William Curtis

William Curtis (1746 – 1799) was an English botanist and entomologist. Curtis began as an apothecary, before turning to botany and natural history.

Curtis was Praefectus Horti at the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1771 to 1777. He established his own London Botanic Garden at Lambeth in 1779, moving to Brompton in 1789.

In 1787 he began to publish "The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed". This had superb hand coloured illustrations by artists such as James Sowerby and Sydenham Edwards. It was highly successful and made him much money. This is the longest running botanical magazine and is still published today.

Here are some of the antique prints from The Botanical Magazine for to choose from. They are genuine antique prints.

They are from editions from the 1790s to 1890s. Use the filter on the left to search by date if you wish.