Asplenium Trichomanes, Maidenhair Spleenwort antique print. Flora Londinensis c1820

by Swan, Joseph

Antique print of fine miniature Maidenhair Fern. Published c1820, this is a fine copperplate engraving by Joseph Swan (1796-1872), with contemporary hand-colour (and accompanying text).

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 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 his most ambitious project. The first plates were published in 1777, the same year that he resigned from his post at Chelsea. Despite praise for his work, ten years later by the time he published his second volume, he was almost bankrupt. With collectors bringing back plants from all around the world, people were more interested in more exotic plants, so William Curtis began publishing the smaller ‘Botanical Magazine’ - also with exquisite hand-coloured copperplate engravings.

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.

Joseph Swan (1796-1872) was knighted for his work as an engraver and publisher based in Glasgow.

In fine condition, the page size is 482 x 285mm (19 x 11.25 inches). To plate mark is 10.75 x 7.25 inches.