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 illustrator

A botanical illustrator is a person who paints, sketches or otherwise illustrates botanical subjects such as trees and flowers. The job requires great artistic skill, attention to fine detail, and technical botanical knowledge...

s. Many plants received their first publication on the pages, and the description given was enhanced by the keenly detailed illustrations.

The first issue, in 1787, was begun by William Curtis

William Curtis

William Curtis was an English botanist and entomologist, who was born at Alton, Hampshire.Curtis began as an apothecary, before turning his attention to botany and other natural history. The publications he prepared effectively reached a wider audience than early works on the subject had intended...

, as both an illustrated gardening and botanical journal. Curtis was an apothecary

Apothecary

Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....

 and botanist who held a position at Kew Gardens, who had published the highly praised (but poorly sold) Flora Londinensis

Flora Londinensis

Flora Londinensis is a book that described the flora found in the London region of the mid 18th century. The Flora was published by William Curtis in six large volumes...

 a few years before. The publication familiarized its readers with ornamental and exotic plants, which it presented in octavo

Octavo (book)

Octavo 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 multiple pages of text were printed to form the individual sections of a book...

 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 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 Edwards

Sydenham Teast Edwards was a natural history illustrator.Edwards was born in 1768 in Usk, Monmouthshire, the son of Lloyd Pittell Edwards, a schoolmaster and organist, and his wife, Mary Reese, who had been married on 26 September 1765 at Llantilio Crossenny Church and where Sydenham was...

, a dispute with the editors saw his departure to start the rival The Botanical Register

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 illustrated The Botanical Magazine, but left after a dispute with the...

. The credit for the first plate (Iris persica) goes to James Sowerby

James Sowerby

James Sowerby was an English naturalist and illustrator. Contributions to published works, such as A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland or English Botany, include his detailed and appealing plates...

, 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 1807 (Volumes 15–26) and changed the name. William Hooker

William Jackson Hooker

Sir William Jackson Hooker, FRS was an English systematic botanist and organiser. He held the post of Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University, and was the first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He enjoyed the friendship and support of Sir Joseph Banks for his exploring,...

 was the editor from 1826, 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

Walter Hood Fitch was a botanical illustrator, born in Glasgow, Scotland, who executed some 10,000 drawings for various publications...

 to the magazine, this artist became the magazines principal artist for forty years.
Joseph Dalton Hooker

Joseph Dalton Hooker

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...

 followed his father, becoming the Director of Kew Gardens in 1865, and editor of its magazine.

The next principal artist, Matilda Smith

Matilda Smith

Matilda Smith was a botanical illustrator whose work appeared in Curtis's Botanical Magazine for over forty years.The long running journal required a dedicated illustrator, and when Joseph Hooker sought a replacement, his second cousin Matilda Smith was inducted to become Kew's Botanical illustrator...

, was brought to the magazine by the younger Hooker. Smith's talent was discovered by Hooker, her cousin, and between 1878 and 1923 Smith drew over 2,300 plates for Curtis's. Her exceptional contribution was to see her become the fist botanic artist of Kew, and she was later made an associate of the Linnean Society—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.
The hand-coloured plates were a labor intensive process, but this tradition was continued by another principal illustrator, Lilian Snelling (1879–1972), until 1948. A photomechanical process was implemented after this time.

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 that of the widely cited, Curtis's Botanical Magazine. It continues to be published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...

 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.

External links

• Magazine's website
• Vol. 2
• Vol. 3 Vol. 4 Vol. 5 Vol. 6
• Curtis Botanical Images Digital Collection. Iowa Digital Library. University of Iowa
  University of Iowa
  The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
  
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