Additional Information

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine

The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed, is an illustrated publication started in 1787 by William Curtis. It is widely referred to by the Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, the name given after William Curtis’ death in 1799. 

The botanical illustrations were created by a number of artists. The first volumes were illustrated by Sydenham Edwards and James Sowerby. After a couple years, James Sowerby went on to publish English Botany. Walter Hood Fitch started creating illustrations in 1826 after the botanical publication had become well known for exotic flowering plants. Fitch is well known for his illustrations of orchids. 

The first thirty volumes used copper engraving to illustrate the plates which were hand-colored by up to thirty people.  Lithography was used later but the prints continued to be hand-colored for much longer than other publications at the time.

The magazine has been considered to be the premier journal for early botanical illustration.

Brighten any room with a mixture of framed botanical illustration from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. In the center is a fine art print showcasing American native plants from illustrations in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. The smaller prints are octavo size and double octavo size hand-colored engravings from early volumes of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine.