Background:

These rare prints are from the first work of William Curtis, a botanical lecturer at the Chelsea Gardens in London.  With the support of Lord Brute, Curtis published the first hand-coloured folio illustrations of Flora Londinensis in 1777.   The work was published through 1828.  The text accompanying each print was authored by Sir William Jackson Hooker.

Flora Londinensis focused on presenting illustrations and descriptions of plants which grew within a radius of ten miles of London.  Many of the artists in Curtis's "later" Botanical Magazine also participated in this project including Sydenham Edwards, James Sowerby and William Kilburn.

The focus of the prints on this page are Mushrooms found in the environs of London.