Flora Londinensis. Dwarf Orchid, Orchis ustulata with dissections c1820

$295.00

Beautiful Dwarf Orchid antique print with contemporary hand-colour.

In 1775 William Curtis (1746-1799 was Praefectus Hortis of Chelsea Physic Garden in London when he began publication of Flora Londinensis with life-size illustrations of all plants that grew wild within a ten-mile radius of London. Despite the financial assistance of Lord Bute, William Curtis was almost ruined financially from his most ambitious project. The first plates were published in 1777, the same year that he resigned from his post at Chelsea. Despite praise for his work, ten years later by the time he published his second volume, he was almost bankrupt.

With collectors bringing back plants from all around the world, people were more interested in more exotic plants, so William Curtis began publishing his smaller Botanical Magazine – also with exquisite hand-coloured copperplate engravings. This latter publication is still issued today (now Kew Magazine).

Flora Londinensis.. plants indigenous to Great Britain, illustrated by figures of the natural size, by the late William Curtis. A New edition Edited by George Graves and William Jackson Hooker, was published between 1817 and 1828 by editor and botanical artist, George Graves F.L.S. (1784-1839), and eminent Scottish botanist, William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865), who had been appointed horticultural director at Kew after Curtis resigned.

This exquisite plate is reduced in price because page damaged at top. The page size is 435 x 285mm (19 x 11.25 inches). To plate mark is only 200 x 120mm (10.75 x 7.25 inches). Accompanying Text page, 485 x 285mm.