William Curtis was trained as both a botanist and as an apothecary. William Curtis (1746 - 1799) was born in Alton, Hampshire. He was responsible for England's three finest series of late eighteenth century botanical art' Flora Londinensis (1777 - 1798) , Assistant Plates to the Materia Medica (1786) and the still surviving publication, The Botanical Magazine (founded by him in 1787), He also established famous botanical gardens at Lambeth and Brompton.William Curtis Botanical Magazine 1787-1826

Ásparagus Sylvaticus Tab 201. vol 3 full page good colour bad pic £55 mega RARE from WALDSTEIN, F. DE PAULA ADAM GRAF VON & P. KITAIBEL. Descriptiones et icones plantarum rariorum Hungariae. pub Vienna, Matthias Andreas Schmidt, (1799) 1802 to1812. 3 volumes. Folio (465 x 332mm). With large sepia aquatint view at beginning of preface to vol I and 280 handcoloured engraved plates, 16 folding.The first (and only) edition of this monumental flora of Hungary and adjacent territories, including Croatia, with splendid plates in the Viennese 'Jacquin' style. The text was by Paul Kitaibel (1757 to1817), professor of botany at the University of Pest. 'He spent much of his career roaming Hungary and collecting botanical, zoological, and mineralogical specimens as well as folklore. His collections of botanical and mineralogical specimens formed the basis for the natural history collection in the Hungarian National Museum' (Johnston). The work was financed by Count Franz Waldstein (1759-1823), an Austrian military leader who fought against the Turks and North African states as a Maltese knight and in the Austrian-Turkish war and the Prussian campaign. From 1789 he devoted himself to botany, travelling with Kitaibel through Hungary collecting plants, interspersed with military service. His herbarium is in Prague. The aquatint view is signed by Hirscher. The plates are engraved by Karl Schutz after drawings by his son Johann. The work was intended to be completed in four volumes but a note on page 310 states that publication was suspended because of 'multiplicia impedimenta, quae e gravibus temporibus in quibus vivimus inseparatibilia sunt' (the many impediments which are inseparable from the troubled times we live in).

Galium infestum Tab 202. vol 3 full page good colour bad pic £55 mega RARE from WALDSTEIN, F. DE PAULA ADAM GRAF VON & P. KITAIBEL. Descriptiones et icones plantarum rariorum Hungariae. pub Vienna, Matthias Andreas Schmidt, (1799) 1802 to1812. 3 volumes. Folio (465 x 332mm). With large sepia aquatint view at beginning of preface to vol I and 280 handcoloured engraved plates, 16 folding.The first (and only) edition of this monumental flora of Hungary and adjacent territories, including Croatia, with splendid plates in the Viennese 'Jacquin' style. The text was by Paul Kitaibel (1757 to1817), professor of botany at the University of Pest. 'He spent much of his career roaming Hungary and collecting botanical, zoological, and mineralogical specimens as well as folklore. His collections of botanical and mineralogical specimens formed the basis for the natural history collection in the Hungarian National Museum' (Johnston). The work was financed by Count Franz Waldstein (1759-1823), an Austrian military leader who fought against the Turks and North African states as a Maltese knight and in the Austrian-Turkish war and the Prussian campaign. From 1789 he devoted himself to botany, travelling with Kitaibel through Hungary collecting plants, interspersed with military service. His herbarium is in Prague. The aquatint view is signed by Hirscher. The plates are engraved by Karl Schutz after drawings by his son Johann. The work was intended to be completed in four volumes but a note on page 310 states that publication was suspended because of 'multiplicia impedimenta, quae e gravibus temporibus in quibus vivimus inseparatibilia sunt' (the many impediments which are inseparable from the troubled times we live in).

Plantago hungarica Tab 203. vol3 full page good colour bad pic £55 mega RARE from WALDSTEIN, F. DE PAULA ADAM GRAF VON & P. KITAIBEL. Descriptiones et icones plantarum rariorum Hungariae. pub Vienna, Matthias Andreas Schmidt, (1799) 1802 to1812. 3 volumes. Folio (465 x 332mm). With large sepia aquatint view at beginning of preface to vol I and 280 handcoloured engraved plates, 16 folding.The first (and only) edition of this monumental flora of Hungary and adjacent territories, including Croatia, with splendid plates in the Viennese 'Jacquin' style. The text was by Paul Kitaibel (1757 to1817), professor of botany at the University of Pest. 'He spent much of his career roaming Hungary and collecting botanical, zoological, and mineralogical specimens as well as folklore. His collections of botanical and mineralogical specimens formed the basis for the natural history collection in the Hungarian National Museum' (Johnston). The work was financed by Count Franz Waldstein (1759-1823), an Austrian military leader who fought against the Turks and North African states as a Maltese knight and in the Austrian-Turkish war and the Prussian campaign. From 1789 he devoted himself to botany, travelling with Kitaibel through Hungary collecting plants, interspersed with military service. His herbarium is in Prague. The aquatint view is signed by Hirscher. The plates are engraved by Karl Schutz after drawings by his son Johann. The work was intended to be completed in four volumes but a note on page 310 states that publication was suspended because of 'multiplicia impedimenta, quae e gravibus temporibus in quibus vivimus inseparatibilia sunt' (the many impediments which are inseparable from the troubled times we live in).

 
Barley
Engraving, published by Dr. Thornton, London, 1803  engraved by Peter Mazel, /Peter Mazell (floruit 1764-1797).... Robert John Thornton  (1768-1837).This is not one of the superior 'Temple of Flora Prints but was produced at the same time as he opened his gallery in 1803. It is a study of the Linnean principles and show the sex organs and evelopment of the plant . Old colour some matt burn from framing still in elderly frame and stained mount but posted sans glass £85 an affordable Thornton print for once

James Sowerby was the first of a long line of natural-history draughtsmen.Sowerby went to work for Wm Curtis contributing c. seventy plates to volumes of The Botanical Magazine and about fifty to the fifth part of 'Flora Londinensis' (1777-1798). He designed, and engraved some of the plates for 'Flora Londinensis'. From 1790 onwards he was chiefly occupied in illustrating the works of Sir J. E. Smith and is usually associated with the long series of works that he illustrated for Sir J. E. Smith, in particular the thirty-six-volume 'English Botany, for which Smith wrote the text. By the mid 1790's James Sowerby had established himself as perhaps the finest botanical artist in England.

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