Curtis's Botanical Magazine is the most eminent of all Botanical journals, generally regarded as the most authoritative source of early botanical illustration.
The magazine was founded in 1787 by William Curtis, a botanist and natural historian, with a view to produce a journal that was both accessible and authoritative. Originally titled 'The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed', the journal was produced weekly, with each issue comprising three accurate hand-coloured copper engravings opposite a page or two of descriptive text. The plants portrayed were the many new ornamental or foreign species that gardening enthusiasts were trying to grow at home; many plants received their first publication on its pages. The magazine was an immediate success, with the first issue selling about 3,000 copies.
The success of the publication has been in large part down to the quality of its illustrations, by some of the country's finest botanical illustrators. Curtis states in the first issue that the plates were drawn 'always from the living plant, and coloured as near to nature, as the imperfection of colouring will admit'. In the early decades these plates used copper engraving and were meticulously coloured by hand. Early artists included Sydenham Edwards (1768–1819), James Sowerby (1757–1822) and William Kilburn (1745–1818).
After Curtis's death in 1799, the magazine was taken over by Curtis's friend and fellow botanist John Sims, who changed the name to Curtis's Botanical Magazine. During his time, increases in the cost of paper led to soaring prices and as a result, circulation dropped to below 1,000. In 1826 the editorship was taken over by William Jackson Hooker. Under his influence the publication became more scientific and scholarly, and by the 1840s lithography was introduced as a cheaper and more consistent way to produce the illustrated plates.
