Flora Londinensis, Cardamine pratensis hand-colored antique print c1820.

by Flora Londinensis

Pretty perennial herb, Cardamine pratensis, lady's smock, cuckoo flower, mayflower, or milkmaids.

In 1775 William Curtis (1746-1799 was Praefectus Hortis of Chelsea Physic Garden in London when he began publication of Flora Londinensis. His intention was to publish life-size hand-coloured copperplate engravings of all plants that grew wild within a ten-mile radius of London. Despite the financial assistance of Lord Bute, William Curtis was almost ruined financially from this most ambitious project. The first plates were published in 1777, the same year that he resigned from his work at Chelsea Gardens. Despite praise for his work, ten years later by the time he published his second volume, he was almost bankrupt.

This is a delicate hand-coloured illustration from Flora Londinensis.. plants indigenous to Great Britain, illustrated by figures of the natural size, by the late William Curtis. A New edition Edited by George Graves and William Jackson Hooker, was published between 1817 and 1828 by editor and botanical artist, George Graves F.L.S. (1784-1839), and eminent Scottish botanist William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) who had been appointed horticultural director at Kew after Curtis resigned. Based in Glasgow, Joseph Swan (1796-1872) was knighted for his work as botanical engraver and publisher.

2 tiny conservation-repaired extremity tears at top. Page size, 48m x 29cm (18 7/8 x 11 3/8 inches).