Curtis's Botanical Magazine

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The Botanical Magazine , 1845 front page
Aquilegia nikolicii ,cultivated in1929 from seeds collected in the wild in the Royal Botanical Garden by William Bertram Turrill , previously assigned to Aquilegia grata . Plate 9405 (1935)
Dianthus barbatus Plate 207 (1793)

The Botanical Magazine or Flower-Garden Displayed is an illustrated garden magazine that has been published since 1787. This makes it the oldest published botanical journal . It is mostlyreferencedas Curtis's Botanical Magazine under the name of its founder.

In the magazine, an iconographic illustration is given for each entry on a plant species in addition to a formal botanical description . It is known for the artistically significant images created by well-known botanical illustrators. Many plants were also first described in Curtis's Botanical Magazine , each of which was accompanied by a detailed illustration. From 1834 on, Walter Hood Fitch , who was won over by William Jackson Hooker as chief illustrator of the magazine, took over the position of chief illustrator of Curtis's Botanical Magazine . He stayed with the magazine as a lithographer for 43 years until 1877 and produced several thousand illustrations that made him the most important and by far the most productive plant illustrator not only of the Victorian era, but also in general. Over the long period, Fitch was not only employed by the later director of the Royal Botanical Garden Kew Joseph Hooker for the illustrations, he was almost exploited because he made over 9,900 illustrations, but received little money for them, which led to the break in 1877. This large yield of lithographs was only possible through the invention of the new technology in flat form, which completely replaced older carving and engraving techniques.

The first edition was published in 1787 by William Curtis as an illustrated gardening and botany journal. Curtis was a pharmacist and botanist who held a position at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew. His publication, published a few years earlier but not economically successful, was Flora Londinensis . The new publication by Curtis rewarded its readers with the representation of ornamental and exotic plants, which was published in an octave format . Artists who previously could only distribute their flower pictures to a narrow circle of initiated experts were given the opportunity to reach a wide range of people. All illustrations were initially hand-colored copperplate engravings to complete the text. The identification of the plants was completed by exact morphological detail drawings with the intention of completing the botanical text. In addition to the morphological details, the botanical texts always provided information on the botanical history, growth characteristics and, for some species, their common names .

The first edition was mainly illustrated by Sydenham Edwards, but this migrated due to a dispute with the publishers to competing The Botanical Register . The first illustration ( Iris persica ) was done by James Sowerby . Like the first 30 editions, this one was made as a copperplate and later hand-colored. An edition was published in about 3000 copies, in each of which three plates were made as illustrations. Up to 30 people were used for this complex coloring. As the cost of production increased as did demand, the results were not always equivalent. The later use of machines standardized the representations, but for many years failed to achieve the same level of detail as with the hand-colored plates.

By the time Curtis died he had finished 13 editions (1787–1800). His friend John Sims was then editor between 1801 and 1807 (issues 15-26) and changed the name of the magazine. William Hooker , who had a high reputation for his botanical expertise as a well-known botanist and author of the rival Exotic Botany , was editor from 1826. WJ Hooker brought artist Walter Hood Fitch to the magazine. He became the main artist for the illustrations for 40 years. Joseph Dalton Hooker followed his father and also became director of the Kew Botanical Gardens and editor of the magazine in 1865.

The next major artist, Matilda Smith, was brought to the magazine by the younger Hooker. Smith made 2,300 panels for Curtis's from 1878 to 1923. Her exceptional contributions enabled her to become Kew's premier artist, making her an associate of the Linnean Society . In her day, she was only the second woman to hold this position. The scientific relevance of the images and illustrations was a major source of the magazine's pride and reputation, for which only highly qualified and specially trained illustrators were considered. The artists worked closely with the botanists who selected one of the species to be described. In the richness of detail of the plant features, the editions satisfied both die-hard botanists, gardeners and plant breeders.

Due to its long history and the continuous quality of the representations, the botanical illustrations are of great scientific importance as essential references. This makes the magazine the most widely cited work of its kind.

The hand-colored plates were particularly elaborately manufactured and were maintained by another chief illustrator Lilian Snelling (1879–1972) until 1948. Then photomechanical processes were continued. 1948 since 1912 on was Botanical Magazine acting William Bertram Turrill editor. As a connoisseur of the monocotyledons , he dedicated in particular to Fritillaria , as well as the genera Iris and Tulipa as a specialist in Macronesian flora and other endemics of the Balkans and the Near East in the journal numerous tables (including for Aquilegia nikolicii or Fritillaria messanensis ssp. Gracilis ).

The magazine has been published continuously since its inception, with a name change to The Kew Magazine between 1984 and 1994 . 1995 went back to the usual original title Curtis's Botanical Magazine . The publisher is still the Royal Botanical Garden in Kew, which offers the publication to groups of people interested in horticulture, ecology and botanical illustration.

The standardized abbreviated form of the magazine in botanical literature is Curtis's Bot. Mag. Or Botanical Magazine .

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jack Kramer: The Art of Flowers . Watson Guptill Publications, New York 2002, ISBN 0-8230-0311-6 , p. 152.
  2. ^ William T. Stearn: Flower Artists of Kew . The Herbert Press in association with The royal Botanic Gardns, Kew, London 1990, ISBN 1-871569-16-8 , p. 27.
  3. ^ William T. Stearn: Flower Artists of Kew. 1990, p. 27.
  4. ^ CE Hubbard: William Bertram Turrill. 1890-1961. In: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. Vol. 17, November 1971, pp. 688–712, The Royal (PDF)

literature

  • Publisher: Martyn Rix: Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , accessed January 20, 2014 : “Each four-part volume contains 24 plant portraits reproduced from watercolor originals; (German: each four-part edition contains 24 plant portraits that are reproduced from water-colored originals) "
  • Hugh Cahill: Case 3: William Curtis and The Botanical Magazine. In: Nature observed: The work of the botanical artist. King's College London, May 10, 2006, accessed July 30, 2007 .
  • Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Kew. In: Publication Details. IPNI , July 2, 2003, accessed on August 6, 2007 (English): "Id: 18697-2"
  • Julie Gardham: Curtis's Botanical Magazine. In: Special Collections Department: Book of the Month. Glasgow University Library, October 2004, accessed on August 6, 2007 (English): “ This journal… is the oldest periodical in existence featuring colored plates, of which more than 11,000 have now been produced ( Eng .:… it is the oldest existing periodically published magazine with colored plates, of which 11,000 have been produced to date.) "

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