Scarce 1948 Curtis Botanical Magazine Chromolithograph, IRIS SPURIA (blue Iris) SUPERB!

$ 129.00

T H E

BOTANICAL MAGAZINE

O R

Flower-Garden Displayed

By W I L L I A M C U R T I S

IRIS GRAEBERIANA

(Blue Iris or Blue Flag)

From "The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed" comes this original stone chromolithograph, a scarce example of the period of master botanical artist Stella Ross-Craig.

The Publication:

The "Botanical Magazine" was first published in 1787 by William Curtis (1746-1799). After William Curtis passed, the magazine was published by his brother, Thomas Curtis. Later, Samuel Curtis (a son-in-law of William Curtis) became proprietor from 1801 to 1845. The prints in the first volumes were copper plates colored by hand. Some of the later prints were lithographs.

Some of the distinguished artists were Sydenham Edwards, John Curtis, William Jackson Hooker, W.H. Fitch, William Graves and Matilda Smith. Later artists ere Stella Ross-Criag & Lilian Snelling.

These prints have a universal beauty and are a lasting documentary contribution to botanical studies.

The Artist:

Stella Ross-Craig (1906 – 2006) was a master English illustrator best known as a prolific illustrator of native flora. In 1929, she began work as a botanical illustrator and taxonomist at Kew Gardens and was a contributor to Curtis's Botanical Magazine and Icones Plantarum of William Jackson Hooker.

Her work drew the attention of Sir Edward Sailsbury, the director of Kew, who brought her to a publisher. In 1999 Ross-Craig became only the sixth person to receive the Kew International Medal. In 2003, 55 of her originals were exhibited at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, when she was aged 95.

The works were subsequently exhibited at the Kew Gardens Gallery the next year.[7] Ross-Craig was a Fellow of the Linnean Society from 1948 to 1974. She was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Gold Veitch Memorial Medal in 2002.

The Plate:

The delicate drawing & coloring are quite stunning. It's a beautiful plate, full of the passion that the early flower painters, botanists & gardeners had for these amazing flowers, many of which were discovered in the pristine reaches of the ever-expanding British Empire.

I believe this is a Stone Chromo-Lithograph, where the image for each color was drawn by hand on heavy slabs of limestone in a water-repellant wax or 'grease'. During printing, water is sponged over the drawn image, which is absorbed into the stone.

When the stone is inked with a roller, it sticks only to the water-repellant drawing, & leaves the bare wet stone clean. The print is then transferred to the paper laid atop the stone & run by hand through a press.

The process is very involved, especially the colored prints, where multiple stones for each color had to line up perfectly with each successive imprint to register perfectly on the page.

Condition: Appears to be in excellent condition with no apparent age-toning to the paper. The coloring appears to remain sharp & brilliant as the day it was printed.

These prints are very old & may have minor imperfections expected with age, such as some typical age-toning of the paper, oxidation of the old original watercolors, spots, text-offsetting, artifacts from having been bound into a book, etc. Please examine the photos & details carefully.

Text Page(s): This one comes without its original text page. Included in the photos is a scan of a sample title page from a Curtis volume, it's for reference & isn't part of the listing.

About this Gorgeous Flower:

Iris graeberiana is a species in the genus Iris, in the subgenus of Scorpiris. It is a bulbous perennial.
It is native to Tajikistan and Turkestan (parts of the former republic of USSR) in Central Asia.
They have these stunning, pale mauve blooms ~

Size: 6 x 9-1/2" inches approximately.