ORIGINAL HAND-COLOURED COPPER ENGRAVING - Ixia capillaris FROM CURTIS'S BOTANICAL MAGAZINE - Plate No. 617, dated 1803 - 1803

London: W. Curtis, 1803. Print. Very Good. Unframed. First Edition. 13.5 x 23cm. A fine original hand-coloured copper engraving, dated 1803, an early plate from this famous work, size approx. 13.5 x 23cm. The condition is very good, colours good and bright, paper a little marked and toned (supplied without accompanying text, and without mount). Suitable for mounting. The quality of the illustrations in the Botanical Magazine is outstanding, both accurate and decorative, the colours vibrant. William Curtis (1746-1799) was a trained apothecary living in London, although his passion was for natural history, particularly plants and insects. He maintained a large well-stocked garden and began the publication of the Botanical Magazine in February 1787, which has gone on to become the most famous and influential botanical publication of its type; it is still published today, making it the longest running scientific periodical of all time. Curtis edited the first 13 volumes, and was then succeeded by John Simms (1800-1826), William Jackson Hooker (1827-1865) and Joseph Dalton Hooker (1865-1904), the current editor of the magazine is Martyn Rix. The fine illustrations were by many artists including Sydenham Edwards, William Graves, James Sowerby, John Curtis, William Jackson Hooker, W.H. Fitch, J. N. Fitch, Matilda Smith, Lillian Snelling and Stella Rose Craig. The plates were hand-coloured up to 1948!, all being copper engravings to around 1840, and then stone or zinc lithography until the introduction of color printing in 1948. References: Blunt;The Art of Botanical Illustration, Great Flower Books pp 156 - 157, Nissen BPI 2350, Staflue 1290. (Please Note: we do not break books for plates. Our plates have either been purchased loose or have come from books that are so defective or incomplete that they are irreparable.).