Curtis, William

William Curtis was responsible for probably the most famous botanical journal ever published - The Botanical Magazine (1787-1983). It was one of the first, and certainly the longest published, of the British horticultural journals. Regardless of year, the plants were drawn, engraved and colored by some of the leading botanical artists of the day such as Sydenham Edwards, James Sowerby and the Fitch family. These botanical journals were in great demand in Victorian times, when the middle and upper classes had an apparently insatiable appetite for learning about and growing exotic plants.