Date of Printing: 1775 • Medium: Copperplate Engraving (hand colored) • Subject Category: Natural History - Plants & Flowers• Signed: Unsigned • Period Created: Enlightenment (1700 - 1799)• Plate Size HxWxD cm: 36 x 26.5 • Leaf Paper Size HxW cm: 47 x 59• Style: FOLIO Original Vintage • Print on Verso: Blank on verso • Condition: Excellent • Edition Type: 1st Edition - Limited • Paper Type: Laid Paper, Watermarked • Framed: Print only
William Curtis, ORIGINAL HAND-COLORED ENGRAVING of the White Dead Nettle (Lamium album) plant from FLORA LONDINENSIS FIRST EDITION: Publ. (1775) 1777-98 ****EXTREMELY RARE****
CONDITION: EXCELLENT.Colours are fresh and vibrant. Accompanied with original descriptive text page.
ORIGINAL hand-colored copper-plate engraving from the FIRST EDITION of FLORA LONDINENSIS : or Plates and Descriptions of Such Plants as Grow Wild in the Environs of London: with Their Places of Growth, and Times of Flowering; Their Several Names According to Linnaeus and Other Authors.....by WILLIAM CURTIS, printed and sold by the author, 51, Gracechurch Street... (1775)1777-98.
The FIRST EDITION of FLORA LONDINENSIS was issued over 20 YEARS in 72 parts, each containing six plates. Twelve parts comprised a fascicle, and three fascicles comprised a volume. According to Henrey, NO MORE THAN 300 COPIES of any single part ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN PRINTED.
The first edition is comprised of 435 engraved plates on 432 sheets. However, few of the plates were dated, since they were not intended to be bound in the order in which they were issued, and, although indexes and binder's instructions were issued, many owners arranged the work in their own preferred manner. The first edition was issued in THREE STATES - uncolored, hand-colored (at double the price), and in a deluxe issue (at half as much again) in which the coloring was finished to a much higher standard - possibly by William Graves, who worked for the Curtis family as a colorist for over 50 years (1771-1827), and who supervised the many colorists who worked on The Botanical Magazine. The coloring on the plates we are currently offering is of a VERY HIGH QUALITY, and we therefore suspect that they derive from the DELUXE ISSUE.