Curtis's Botanical Magazine
A short history
The Botanical Magazine, later called Curtis's
Botanical Magazine, and usually known affectionately
as Bot. Mag. was founded by William Curtis in 1787. In
the original preface to the first part, published on February
1st, Curtis wrote that it was produced in response to
the to "the repeated solicitations of several ladies
and gentlemen, subscribers to the author's Botanic Garden"
for "a work in which Botany and Gardening, or the
labours of Linnaeus and Miller, might happily be combined",
and further expecting that the subscribers should "wish
to become scientifically acquainted with the plants they
cultivate". The first part contained three plates,
hand coloured engravings of Iris persica, Echinacea
purpurea and Eranthus hyemalis, and the
Magazine was an instant sucess, soon reaching over three
thousand subscribers.
Curtis himself was the son of a tanner in Alton, Hampshire
who trained as an apothecary and became in 1773, Praefectus
Horti and demonstrator at the Apothecaries' garden in
Chelsea, now in the Chelsea Physic Garden. The first illustrators
were William Kilburn, James Sowerbury and later, Sydenham
Edwards. After William Curtis's death in 1799, Dr John
Sims, who had studied in both Leiden and in Edinburgh,
became editor and under his guidance the magazine became
more scientific and the name became Curtis's Botanical
Magazine. Sims relied on experts for the descriptions
of many of the new species illustrated, and several, such
as William Herbert, Dean of Manchester, an expert on the
Amaryllidaceae, also provided the paintings for the engraver.
In 1827 William Hooker, then Professor of Botany at Glasgow,
became editor and so began an association with the Hooker
family, after 1841 with Kew, when Hooker became the first
director of the Royal Botanic Gardens. Hooker brought
with him from Scotland a young artist, W. H. Fitch, who
became the main illustrator until 1878 when he resigned
after mounting disagreement with Sir Joseph Hooker, son
of Willliam and then also Director of Kew. Fitch was incredibly
proficient and prolific, initially producing paintings
for the engravers, later becoming an accomplished and
prolific lithographer himself.
