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''The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed'', is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subsequent name ''Curtis's Botanical Magazine''. Each of the issues contains a description, in formal yet accessible language, and is renowned for featuring the work of two centuries of
botanical illustrator Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species. They are generally meant to be scientifically descriptive about subjects depicted and are often found printed alongside a botanical description in boo ...
s. Many plants received their first publication on the pages, and the description given was enhanced by the keenly detailed illustrations.


History and profile

The first issue, published on 1 February 1787, was begun by
William Curtis William Curtis (11 January 1746 – 7 July 1799) was an English botanist and entomologist, who was born at Alton, Hampshire, site of the Curtis Museum. Curtis began as an apothecary, before turning his attention to botany and other natural ...
, as both an illustrated gardening and botanical journal. Curtis was an
apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...
and botanist who held the position of Praefectus Horti (Director) and demonstrator of plants at the
Chelsea Physic Garden The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries' Garden in London, England, in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to grow plants to be used as medicines. This four acre physic garden, the term here referring to the scie ...
, who had published the highly praised (but poorly sold) '' Flora Londinensis'' a few years before. The publication familiarized its readers with ornamental and exotic plants, which it presented in
octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...
format. Artists who had previously given over their flower paintings to an affluent audience, now saw their work published in a format accessible by a wider one. The illustrations were initially hand-coloured prints, taken from copper engravings and intended to complement the text. Identification by a general reader was given in exploded details, some of which were given as a section. This was accompanied by a page or two of text describing the plants properties, history, growth characteristics, and some common names for the species. The first volume's illustrations were mostly by
Sydenham Edwards Sydenham Teast Edwards (5 August 1768 – 8 February 1819) was a natural history illustrator. He illustrated plants, birds and importantly published an illustrated book on the breeds of dogs in Britain, ''Cynographia Britannica''. Edwards was bo ...
. A dispute with the editors saw his departure to start the rival ''
The Botanical Register ''The Botanical Register'', subsequently known as ''Edwards's Botanical Register'', was an illustrated horticultural magazine that ran from 1815 to 1847. It was started by the botanical illustrator Sydenham Edwards, who had previously illustr ...
''. The credit for the first plate ( ''Iris persica'') goes to
James Sowerby James Sowerby (21 March 1757 – 25 October 1822) was an English natural history, naturalist, illustrator and mineralogist. Contributions to published works, such as ''A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland'' or ''English Botany'', include his ...
, as did a dozen of Edwards contributions. The first thirty volumes used copper engraving to provide the plates, the hand colouring of these was performed by up to thirty people. An issue might have a circulation of 3000 copies, with 3 plates in each. As costs of production rose, and demand increased, results would be variable within a run. The later use of machine colouring would provide uniformity to the artists work, although the process could not give the same detail for many years. The magazine has been considered to be the premier journal for early botanical illustration. When Curtis died, having completed 13 volumes (1787–1800), his friend John Sims became editor between 1801 and 1826 (Volumes 14–53) and changed the name. William Hooker was the editor from 1827, bringing to it his experience as a botanist, and as author of the rival magazine, '' Exotic Botany''. W. J. Hooker brought the artist
Walter Hood Fitch Walter Hood Fitch (28 February 1817 – 14 January 1892) was a botanical illustrator, born in Glasgow, Scotland, who executed some 10,000 drawings for various publications. His work in colour lithograph, including 2700 illustrations for ''C ...
to the magazine, this artist became the magazines principal artist for forty years.
Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Ro ...
followed his father, becoming the Director of Kew Gardens in 1865, and editor of its magazine. Fitch resigned from the magazine in 1877 following a dispute with Hooker—for whom Fitch had been preparing illustrations for several books—and Hooker's daughter Harriet Anne Hooker Thiselton-Dyer stepped in. She rendered almost 100 illustrations for publication during the period 1878–1880, helping to keep the magazine viable until the next principal artist, Matilda Smith took over as lead illustrator. Like Thiselton-Dyer, Smith was brought to the magazine by Hooker, who was her cousin. Between 1878 and 1923 Smith drew over 2,300 plates for Curtis's. Her exceptional contribution was to see her become the first botanic artist of Kew, and she was later made an associate of the
Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...
—the second woman to have achieved this. The scientific value of the figures and illustration, a source of pride and notability for the magazine, required the careful training of the illustrators. The artist worked closely with the botanist to depict a specimen, the use of exploded details surrounding the depiction gave the volumes practical appeal to botanists, horticulturalists, and gardeners. The magazine is the greatest serial of botanical illustration yet produced, the consistent quality of the journal's plates and authority make this the most widely cited work of its kind. Other 19th century artists who contributed largely to the magazine include Augusta Innes Withers and Anne Henslow Barnard, Joseph Dalton Hooker's sister-in-law, who was active in the period 1879–1894. The hand-coloured plates were a labor-intensive process, but this tradition was continued by another principal illustrator, Lilian Snelling (1879–1972), from 1921 until 1948Catherine Horwood A photomechanical process was implemented after this time. In 1921, Lilian Snelling, took over as chief illustrator on the magazine, a position she held until 1952, producing over 830 paintings and plates during her tenure. From 1929, she was assisted by Stella Ross-Craig, a talented illustrator and botanist who remained at Kew until the 1960s, contributing 3000 illustrations to many publications including Curtis's.Ward, Marilyn and Rix, Martyn, Curtis's Botanical Magazine, vol. 23, 2006, pp. 256–258 It has been published continuously ever since, with a change of name to ''The Kew Magazine'' from 1984 to 1994. In 1995 the name reverted to the widely cited ''Curtis's Botanical Magazine''. It continues to be published by the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...
, as a publication for those interested in horticulture, ecology or botanical illustration. The standard form of abbreviation is ''Curtis's Bot. Mag.'' or ''Botanical Magazine'' in the citation of botanical literature.


See also

*
List of horticultural magazines This is a list of notable magazines devoted to horticulture and gardening. Australia * '' Australian House & Garden'' * '' Better Homes and Gardens'' * ''Gardening Australia'' * '' NZ Gardener'' * '' South Australian Vigneron and Gardeners' Manua ...


References


Bibliography

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External links

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Journal page
at
Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...
website *
Issues 1984– vol. 1, Ne
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Vol. 2Vol. 3Vol. 4Vol. 5Vol. 6Vol. 7Vol. 8Vol. 9Vol. 10Vol. 13
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Curtis Botanical Images Digital Collection
Iowa Digital Library,
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

''Curtis's Botanical Magazine''
at the
Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open-access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working ...
vols. 15 (1801) – 103 (1877)
Curtis Botanical Images of Carnivorous Plants from the John Innes Centre Historical Collection
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403234556/https://wikis.nbi.ac.uk/InnerWorlds/index.php/John_Innes_Centre_Historical_Collection_of_Botanical_Drawings#.UTm3vRyePAk , date=2018-04-03


Curtis's Botanical Magazine
at
HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...
Digital
Curtis's Botanical Magazine
at
Wiley Online Library John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and produces books, journals, and encyclope ...

Curtis's Botanical Magazine
at Botanical Scientific Journals 1787 establishments in Great Britain Horticultural magazines published in the United Kingdom Botany journals Magazines established in 1787