Original hand-coloured engravings
BOTANICAL PUBLICATION
"Flora Londinensis; or, plates and descriptions of such plants as grow wild in the environs of London with Their Places of Growth, and Times of Flowering; Their Several Names According to Linnaeus and Other Authors."
William Curtis, editor
1st (de luxe) Edition, 1777-98, chain-linked paper, watermarked as indicated.
Large folio, 18 inches x 11 3/16inches (46cm x 28cm) approximately.
Second Edition, 1817, the paper is whiter, thicker and woven compared to the first edition, watermarked as indicated.
Page size: Large folio, 19 1/2 x 11 7/8 inches (49cm x 30cm) approximately.
Image size: 8 1/8 x 3 7/8 inches (20.7cm x 10cm) approximately.
| Aira praecox; foliis setaceis, vaginis angulatis; |
| Second edition, 1817. |
| $185.00 USD (print only) |
| Poa rigida; panicula lanceolata disticho-secunda (rigida); |
| Second edition, 1817. |
| Watermarked |
| $185.00 USD (print only) |
ABOUT THE PUBLICATION / EDITOR / ARTIST
William CURTIS (1746–1799)
William Curtis is one of the great names in natural history, and his Flora Londinensis (along with his famous Botanical Magazine) is a landmark in English botany. A pharmacist, botanist, and entomologist, Curtis set up a botanic garden of British plants at Bermondsey in 1771 and two years later was appointed demonstrator of plants at the Chelsea Physic Garden, a post he held until 1777.
Although the stated purpose of the Flora Londinensis is to depict the plants growing within a ten-mile radius of London, the work is much more comprehensive in scope than its title suggests, for it embraces most of the flowers growing in England. As a result, it should be properly regarded as the first colour-plate book of national flora.
It is an impressive work with handsome engraved illustrations and wonderfully rich colouring. Curtis directed the specimens be drawn to a uniform scale and to life size, and that most of the plates display a high degree of accuracy. The work contains some of James Sowerby’s first botanical illustrations as well as the work of William Kilburn, Sydenham Edwards, Francis Sansom, and perhaps others (none of the plates are signed).
