Flora Londinensis, Rosa tomentosa. The Rose. William Curtis, c1820

by Flora Londinensis

Charming Pink Rose antique print with contemporary hand-colour.

In 1775 William Curtis (1746-1799 was Praefectus Hortis of Chelsea Physic Garden in London when he began publication of Flora Londinensis with life-size illustrations of plants that grew wild within a ten-mile radius of London. Despite the financial assistance of John Stuart, Earl of Bute (who financed the laying out Kew Gardens), William Curtis was almost ruined financially from his most ambitious project. The first plates were published in 1777, the same year that he resigned from Chelsea Physic Garden. Despite praise for his work, ten years later by the time he published his second volume, he was almost bankrupt.

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.

This exquisite plate (with accompanying Text page) is reduced in price because of slight offset print from text page. The page size is 470 x 280mm (18 1/2 x 11 inches), with much smaller intaglio impression approximately 345 x 265mm (approx.13 1/2 x 10 3/8 inches).