Protea grandiflora. Broad-leaved Great-flowered Protea engraving c1823

by Curtis, Samuel

Antique Print of a very beautiful Protea Grandiflora v. latifolia. (Native of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa).

Beautiful original hand-coloured copperplate engraving for Curtis's Botanical Magazine published in London c1823 by Samuel Curtis. At the time this engraving was published, Scottish botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker was director of kew Gardens in London - having previously been Professor of Botany at Glasgow University.

Work for The Botanical Magazine began in 1786 by William Curtis “in response.. to solicitations for a work... (combining) Botany and Gardening”. William Curtis (1746-1799) was Praefectus Hortis (Horticultural Manager) of Chelsea Physic Garden at that time. Curtis's Botanical Magazine illustrates botanical specimens from around the world. Still in publication today, 230 years later, it is now known as The Kew Magazine, and is the longest running illustrated periodical in the world.

Such a pity about the soiling of this page! The page size is 225 x 135 cm (8 7/8 x 5 1/4 inches).