
Bladder Hibiscus,
Hibiscus Trionum;
No 209, (Volume 6, 1792)
Artist: Francis Sansom
Original hand-coloured copper-plate engraving
$105 USD
BOTANICAL PUBLICATION
"The Botanical Magazine" -or- "Flower Garden Displayed"
First published in London in 1787 by William Curtis.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
PRINT SIZE: 9 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches (23 x 13 cm) approximately.
CONDITION: Very good.
THE Bladder Hibiscus PRINT PHOTO: Brightness and colouring are dependent on the camera as well as the settings of the device used to see this page.
TEXT: Accompanied by text.
SHIPPING: Price includes shipping.

ABOUT THE PUBLICATION
William CURTIS (1746-1799)
The Botanical Magazine or Flower Garden Displayed remains the most important of all the small botanicals in the print world and has also become an authorative taxonomical series.. It was first published in London in 1787 by William Curtis whose objective was to provide a scientifically accurate, coloured, pictorial magazine for those interested in horticulture and the exotic plants which were being collected from around the world.
The publication featured illustrations from some of the leading botanical artists of the day including Sydenham Edwards, William Graves, William Kilburn, James Sowerby, John Curtis, William Jackson Hooker, Walter Hood Fitch, Matilda Smith, Lilian Snelling, and Stella Ross-Craig. The earlier prints were hand-coloured engravings, the later hand-coloured lithographs.
William Curtis published The Botanical Magazine from 1787–1800 (Volumes 1–14). From 1801–1807 (Volumes 15–26), John Sims published Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. The principal artist for both publishers was Sydenham S. Edwards.
Walter Hood Fitch (1817–92) was without question the most important botanical illustrator of his time and for almost forty years he served under Sir W.J.Hooker and Sir Joseph Hooker, directors of the ‘Royal Gardens at Kew’ as the sole illustrator for The Botanical Magazine.
Lilian Snelling (1879–1972), for thirty years the principal artist for Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, was one of the last of the botanical artists who worked in the nineteenth century tradition. Until 1948, she redrew her original water colors onto zinc plates for reproduction, then hand-painted a master print for a team of colorists to copy. However, modern technology finally replaced this labor intensive process and from 1948 until her retirement in 1952 her plates were reproduced photographically.
New Zealand plants have featured in the magazine since 1791. The first New Zealand plants illustratd were Kowhai, Sophora tetraptera, seeds of which were collected during Captain Cook's first voyage, and Poroporo, Solanum laciniatum. A total of some 135 New Zealand indigenous plants appeared in the Botanical Magazine.
Reference: NZ Journal of Botany, Barbara. A Mathews.
MORE ORIGINAL HAND-COLOURED ENGRAVINGS and LITHOGRAPHS
FROM "The Botanical Magazine" -or- "Flower Garden Displayed"