botanical
![The Botanical Magazine [with Index and Companion], London, 1793-1948, 130 vols, green morocco gilt](/assets/image/picture_3101204/20e02/kttnqj7lasri0qflt7of0wprv0ysua3g3r-cnmsequ3ao6cutjddqptzzjysw7w1693990866jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
![The Botanical Magazine [with Index and Companion], London, 1793-1948, 130 vols, green morocco gilt](https://veryimportantlot.com/assets/image/picture_3101204/20e02/kttnqj7lasri0qflt7of0wprv0ysua3g3r-cnmsequ3ao6cutjddqptzzjysw7w1693990866jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
William Curtis was a British botanist and entomologist, editor of the oldest botanical publication in Great Britain.
Curtis became interested in natural history in his youth, and at the age of 25 had already published "Instructions for the Collection and Preservation of Insects", particularly butterflies. In 1779 he founded his own London botanical garden at Lambeth and published Flora Londinensis (1777-1798), a 6-volume work on urban nature.
In 1787 Curtis began publishing the later popular Botanical Magazine, which also featured hand-colored plates by artists. This magazine has changed its name several times over time, but is still continued by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as a publication for those interested in horticulture, ecology or botanical illustration. Interestingly, the magazine was entirely hand-colored until 1948.
![Georgicks [Bucolicks], translated by John Martyn, 1741-49, 2 vols, colour-printed botanical plates](/assets/image/picture_3102534/1566c/93ld1rooo8m-6xxc1p6kj5b8mzysjwlyj1jgwhjvkpygyo25rfhrdmw4rftj0zxu1694082220jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
![Georgicks [Bucolicks], translated by John Martyn, 1741-49, 2 vols, colour-printed botanical plates](https://veryimportantlot.com/assets/image/picture_3102534/1566c/93ld1rooo8m-6xxc1p6kj5b8mzysjwlyj1jgwhjvkpygyo25rfhrdmw4rftj0zxu1694082220jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, were attributed to him in ancient times, but modern scholars consider his authorship of these poems as dubious.
Virgil's work has had wide and deep influence on Western literature, most notably Dante's Divine Comedy, in which Virgil appears as the author's guide through Hell and Purgatory.
Virgil has been traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. His Aeneid is also considered a national epic of ancient Rome, a title held since composition.
