Lot 506: CURTIS, William (1746-1799) - Samuel CURTIS (1779-1860) and Sir William Jackson HOOKER

CURTIS, William (1746-1799) - Samuel CURTIS (1779-1860) and Sir William Jackson HOOKER (1785-1865), editors. Curtis's Botanical Magazine; or Flower Garden Displayed. London: Edward Couchman for Samuel Curtis, Sherwood & Co. and others, 1827.

New series, vol.I only (vol.54 of the whole work), 4° (307 x 240mm). Uncut. Engraved portrait of William Curtis, 85 hand-coloured engraved plates by Swan and ?others after Hooker, the Rev. L. Guilding, C.M. Curtis and others. (Light spotting or browning to title and first and last few leaves.) Original green cloth, paper label to spine, t.e.g. (label torn with some loss, extremities scuffed and lightly rubbed). Provenance: G.F. Tothall (inscription at front).

A VERY RARE large paper issue from one of the oldest scientific periodicals. William Curtis had witnessed from personal experience that his clients refused to buy folio pictures of unassuming plants (vide, his Flora Londinensis) but he felt that they would subscribe to an octavo work which pictured the showy plants that filled their gardens, and from this premise was born the Botanical Magazine. The work was immediately successful, and the early volumes were quickly reissued. William Curtis edited the work until his death in 1799 (vols. 1-13), John Sims then took over 1801 until 1826. The present volume marks the start of the great third period when the work was published under the editorship of Sir William Hooker. This lasted from 1827 to 1864, when Sir William's son, Sir Joseph Hooker took over. The plates are undoubtedly seen at their best in the present large paper format, particularly the ten larger plates that were issued folded in the regular issue. It would appear that Hooker tried out the large paper copy for the first few issues of the third series, presumably for presentation. They are very rare and the bibliographies do not discuss this format. Cf. Blunt (1994), pp.211-217; cf. Great Flower Books (1990), pp. 156-7; cf. Nissen BBI 2350; cf. Stafleu & Cowan 1290. See also R. Desmond A celebration of flowers: two hundred years of Curtis's Botantical Magazine [London]: Royal Botanic Gardens, 1987.

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