> [!cite] BHL link: this entry starts at [page 517](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33266194) of TL-2 Suppl. IV > Author links: [IPNI](https://www.ipni.org/a/1927-1) LSID 1927-1, [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q460867) QID Q460867 > Support pages: [[Abbreviations|abbreviations]], [[Layout key|layout key]], [[Cite TL-2|cite TL-2]] > [!example] See also [[Curtis, William|first entry]] for this author ### Author \* Curtis, William (1746-1799), British botanist, on leaving school apprenticed to his grandfather, a surgeon-apothecary at Alton, ca. 1766 apprenticed to George Vaux, an apothecary in Pudding Lane in the City of London, 1772-1777 in charge of Chelsea garden, founded the Botanical Gardens at Lambeth and Brompton, had a nursery at Queen’s Elm, Brompton 1789, at Sloane Street Chelsea. **Abbreviated name**: *Curtis* \[standard form in IPNI: *Curtis*\] #### Herbarium and types Original herbarium unknown. – Drawings and 2 volumes of a *Hortus siccus gramineas* at [[Collection K|K]] and [[Collection BM|BM]]. See also D.H. Kent and D.E. Allen: material in Hosack (London Area), now lost. – W. Curtis material [[Collection BM|BM]], [[Collection K|K]], [[Collection LINN|LINN]], [[Collection PH|PH]]. #### Bibliography and biography AG 3: 380; Barnhart 1: 406; BB p. 81; BJI 2: 216; BL 2: 216; BM 1: 407-408, 6: 243-244; Bossert p. 90; Bret. p. 201; CSP 2: 110; Dawson p. 248; Desmond p. 167 (important info.); DNB 13: 349; Dryander 3: 24, 86-87, 98, 132; Frank 3(Anh.). 21; GF p. 83; Henrey nos. 590-611; Hortus 3: 1191; HU 2: 599(index); IH 2: 148; Jackson p. 536 (index); Kew 1: 664-665; KR p. 132; Langman p. 230; LS 6470; MW p. 88-89; MW suppl. p. 53; NAF 9(6): 433, ser 2. (2): 154, (4): 42, (5): 235; NI 439-443; Plesch p. 186-188; PR 1998-2012, ed. 1: 2088-2102; Rehder 5(index): 204; RS p. 79; Smit p. 902; Sotheby p. (19), portr.; Stevenson p. 1239; TL-1: 90-97, TL-2/1: 575-584, and see indexes; Tucker 1: 182, Zander ed. 10, p. 648-649, ed. 11, p. 738. #### Biofile - Allen, D.E., Naturalist in Britain 8-9, 106-107, 130. 1976. - Anon., Gent. Mag. 1799(2): 628-629, 635-639; Nature 44: 86-87. 1891, 157: 14-16. 1946; House and Garden 1973: 150-151. Nov 1973. - Baer, W. and H.W. Lack, Pflanzen auf Porzellan 74. 1979. - Baker, G., Bot. Trans. Yorkshire Mat. Union 1: 297. 1891. - Blunt, W., Art Bot. Illustr. 183-185, 189-190. 1955. - Bridson, G.D.R. et al., Nat. hist. mss. res. Brit. Isl. 7.1, 73.1, 255.22, 255.89. 1980. - Carter, H.B., Sir Joseph Banks 630 (index). 1988. - Curtis, W., Short hist. Brown-tail Moth 1792 (1969 reprint with biogr. introduction). - Curtis, W.H., William Curtis 1746-1799, Winchester 1941. - Davey, F.H., Fl. Cornwall xxxiv. 1909. - Dawson, W.R., Banks 248. 1958. - Desmond, R., Kew Mag. 4(1): 7-14. 1987; A celebration of flowers: two hundered years of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. Kew, Royal Botanical Gardens. 208 p. 1987. - Fletcher, H.R., Story Roy Hort. Soc. 1804-1968: 4-5, 55, 60, 172, 316, 410. 1969. - Fournier, E., *in* H.E. Baillon, Dict. bot. 2: 306. 1881. - Freeman, R.B., Brit. nat. hist. books 1495-1908: nos. 880-889. 1980. - Fussell, G.E., More old English farming books 134, 135. 1948. - Gilmour, J.S.L., Exhib. comm. birth W. Curtis, Alton 1946; Nature 157: 14-15. 1946. - Glass, B. et al., Forerunners of Darwin 81. 1968. - Graustein, J.E., Thomas Nuttall 90-94, 182. 1967. - Harvey, J., Early hort. catal., Bath 1973, p. 5 (catalogues of W. Curtis 1772-1801). - Hunkin, J.W., Endeavour 5(17): 13-17. Jun 1946 (portr.); Gard. Chron. ser. 3. 119: 19. 1946. - Johnson, G.W., Hist. Engl. Gardening 1829: 244-266. - Kent, D.H., Brit. herb. 50. 1957. - Kent, D.H. and D.E. Allan, Brit. Irish herb. 123. 1984; Hist. Fl. Middlesex 18. 1975. - Lack, E., Die Abenteuer des Sir Joseph Banks 66. 1985. - Lisney, A.A., Bibliography of British Lepidoptera 1608-1799, 1960, p. 204-206 (portr., etc.). - Lousley, J.E., J. Roy. hort. Soc. 71\[part 1\]: 98-100 (portr.), \[part 2\], 124-129. 1946. - Mabberley, D.J., Jupiter Botanicus 40, 142. 1985. - Milner, J.D., Cat. portr. Kew 32. 1906. - Nelmes, E., Curtis's Bot. Mag. dedications 1827-1927, p. xvi-xxi. 1932 (London, J. Roy. hort. Soc.). - Nelson, E.C., Taxon 29(5/6): 635-639. Nov 1980 (some publ. dates for parts of C’s *Flora Londinensis*); Occas. Pap. natl. Bot. Gard. Glasnevin 40. 1982. - Noblett, W., Library, ser. 6. 9(1): 1-22. 1987. - Reynolds, G.W., The Aloes of South Africa, Bibliogr. notes 70-102. 1950. - Riddelsdel, H.J., Fl. Gloucestershire cxvi. 1948. - Rix, M., The art of the botanist, London 1981, p. 124, 125, 143, 144. 198. - Salmon, C.E., Flora of Surrey (ed. W.H. Pearsall), London 1931, p. 48 (botany by G.S. Boulger). - Savage, C.P.E., Nature 157: 15-16. 1946; Proc. Linn. Soc. London 158: 13-16. 1947 (portr., three unpublished papers). - Semple, R.H., Mem. Bot. Gard. Chelsea 1878: 104-109. - Stafleu, F.A., Miquel-Schlechtendal Corr., Regn. veg. 71: 38. 1970. - Stearn, W.T., \[introd. facs. ed. of\] W. Curtis, A short history of the Brown-Tail Moth \[1782\], Curwen facs. 1969; Nat. Hist. Mus. S. Kensington 279. 1981. - Stieber, M.T. et al., Huntia 4(1): 78. 1981 (contact with Bauer and Bigelow). - Thornton, R.J., Sketch of the life... William Curtis, Lectures on botany, p. 1-33. 1805. Oct. (n.v.). - Trimen H. and W.T. Thiselton Dyer, Fl. Middlesex 393-396. 1869 (bibl.). - Verdoorn, F., Chron. bot. 9: 75-76. 1945. - Walpole, M., J. Soc. bibl. nat. Hist. 7(4): 489-507. 1976 (notes on *Flora Londinensis*). - Wheeler, A. and J.H. Price, eds., History in the service of systematics, Spec. Publ. Soc. Bibl. Nat. hist. 1: 10-20. 1981. - White, A. and M.L. Sloane, The Stapelieae ed. 1: 20. 1933, ed. 2. 1: 86-88. 912. 1937. - White, J.W., Flora of Bristol 71-72. 1912. - Whittle, T. and C.D.K. Cook, Curtis's flower garden displayed: 120 plants from the years 1787-1807 with new descriptions. Oxford Univ. Press, 1981, 258 p. (note on C. in Introduction p. 1-3): Curtis' Wunderwelt der Blumen: 120 originalgetreue Abbildungen aus den Jahren 1787-1807 mit neuen Beschreibungen, Bern (Colibri) 1979. 264 p. - W., Mag. Encycl. 1(1): 43-45. 1801 (notice on W. Curtis). #### Composite works - (1) *Coreopsis verticillata*. Whorled Coreopsis, *in* Bot. Mag. *pl. 156*. 1 Mai 1791. - (2) *Oenothera purpurea*. Purple Oenothera, *in* Bot. Mag. 9: 552, *pl. 352*. 1795. - (3) *Oenothera anomala*, *in* Bot. Mag. 11: *pl. 388*. 1 Nov 1797. - (4) *Fuchsia arborescens, in* Bot. Mag. 43: *pl. 2620*. Dec 1825. - (5) *Sophora tomentosa* ß. Downy Sophora, *in* Bot. Mag. 62: *pl. 3390*. 1845. - (6) *Curtis's Botanical Magazine Dedications*, containing 100 portraits of the eminent botanists and horticulturists to whom the volumes of the magazine were dedicated from 1827-1927, with biographical notes, compiled by E. Nelmes and W. Cuthbertson, Oct. 1932. - (7) Curtis, W., The *subscription catalogue* of the *Brompton botanic garden for the years* 1790 (35 p.), 1791 (43 p.), 1792 (46 p.), 1793 (34 p.), 1795 (36 p.), 1796 (38 p.) 1799 (36 p.). Set at B-S. - (8) Curtis, W., *Practical observations*... see TL-2/1: 1288, Ed. 7: 1834... Seventh edition, with considerable additions, by John Lawrence... London (Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper) Oct., p. \[i-vi\], \[1\]-165, \[i-iii\], *8 pl*. (col.). *Copy*: BM. ### Publications ##### n.28.488. Proposals **Title** *Proposals* for opening by subscription, a botanic garden, to be called the *London botanic garden*: designed for the use of the physician, the apothecary, the student in physic, the scientific farmer, the botanist, (particularly the English botanist), the lover of flowers, and the public in general, etc.... London (the author) 1778. Oct. **Abbreviated title**: *Prop. London bot. gard.* **Notes** *Publ*.: 1778, p. \[1\]-19, \[i\]. *Copy*: BM. – See also Henrey 3: 30(no. 608). 1975.