Curtis's Botanical Magazine (Volumne III of The New Series)

8vo, 80 color plates. Covers & spine gone, some minor foxing and staining, 3 plates with water damage, most plates in good shape. William Curtis (1746-1799) was trained as an apothecary, but his real interest was botany. His first major contribution to this science was his Flora Londinenis, published in 1777.While a highly regarded work, it turned out to be a financial disappointment for Curtis. He then turned to gardeners, who he felt could pay better for his efforts. In 1787 he published the first of his enormously popular periodical, The Botanical Magazine. It was the first of its kind, often considered the best of this type of periodical, and is still being published today. William Kilburn, James Sowerby, and Sydenham T. Edwards were the principal artists who worked on the illustrations with Curtis for 28 years, and it was they, who did most of the plates. When Curtis died in 1799 his firend John Sims took over the magazine.