Walter Hood Fitch Curtis Orchid Prints

Please click on each image to enlarge and for prices


Mrs Benson's Dendrobe Orchid FCO1 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $17	Bracteated Chysis FCO2 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $17	Dendrobium Densiflora Orchide FCO3 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25


Epidendrum Dichromum FCO4 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: SOLD	Miltonia Warscewiczii Orchid FCO9 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25	BCatasetum Naso Orchid FCO44 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $15


Dendrobium Farmeri Orchid FCO10 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25	Acropera Armeniaca Orchid FCO11 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25	Dendrobium Chrysotoxum Orchid FCO12 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25


Oncidium Excavatum Orchid FCO13 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25	Oncidium Marshallianum Orchid FCO14 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25	Dendrobium Dixanthum Orchid FCO15 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25


Paphinia Cristata Orchid FCO43 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $15	Polystachya Pubescens Orchid FCO17 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $15	Hypoxis Elata Orchid FCO18 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $15


Laelia Grandis Orchid FCO19 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: SOLD	Dendrobium Senile Orchid FCO20 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $15	Celogyne Parishii Orchid FCO21 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $15


Saccolabium Miniatum Orchid FCO28 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $15	Limatodes Rosea Orchid FCO26 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25	Masdevallia Ignea Orchid FCO29 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25


Batemania Burtii Orchid FCO37 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25	Saccolabium Ampullaceum Orchid FCO25 ~~$35~~ Sale Price: $15	Cymbidium Huttoni Orchid FCO42 ~~$45~~ Sale Price: $25


Fourcroya Longaeva Orchid FCO58 ~~$65~~ Sale Price: $35	Oncidium Macranthum Orchid FCO46 ~~$65~~ Sale Price: SOLD


Brassia Lawrenciana Orchid FCO54 ~~$65~~ Sale Price: $35	Grammatophyllum Ellish Orchid FCO55 ~~$65~~ Sale Price: $35

William Curtis began publication of the Botanical Magazine in February 1787 and continued almost without interruption for 160 years. After Curtis edited the first 13 volumes, the publication continued under the editors: John Simms (1800-1826), William Jackson Hooker (1827-1865) and Joseph Dalton Hooker (1865-1904). The images were engraved and hand-coloured by many artists including Sydenham Edwards, William Graves, James Sowerby, John Curtis, William Jackson Hooker, W.H. Fitch, Matilda Smith, Lillian Snelling and Stella Rose Craig. The plates are known for their fine detail and delicate hand coloring. The prints are all copper engravings to Volume 70 & then stone or zinc lithography until the introduction of color printing in 1948. It is the longest running botanical magazine and was entirely hand colored until 1948. References: Blunt (1994) pp 211 - 217, Great Flower Books pp 156 - 157, Nissen BPI 2350, Staflue 1290.

These Curtis prints are from the Walter Hood Fitch years, the time of a long collaboration between Fitch and the editor of the magazine, Sir William Jackson Hooker. It was a partnership which lasted over 40 years, during which time Fitch was the sole artist for Curtis Botanical Magazine & Kew Gardens. Sadly, this creative partnership was dissolved after a financial dispute, which both parties regretted, but never resolved.

Walter Hood Fitch was the greatest botanical artist of his time and we are exceptionally pleased to have such a good selection of his finest work. The prints are much rarely than the earlier Curtis, as may fewer were published, so it is doubly satisfying to offer to Curtis collectors.