Walter H. Fitch (Born 1817) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He was one of the most talented and the most productive botanical artists of the Victorian era. He was educated locally and apprenticed at the age of 17 to a firm of calico designers. The complex process of fabric printing required that he becomes familiar with engraving as well. He used large heavy rollers that were created for each color to be applied to the cloth. The patterns had to match exactly to make the final product have a single multi-colored pattern. The skills he learnt at the plant proved invaluable later in his life, as he would have to engrave and lithograph thousands of his own botanical prints. Jackson William Hooker was looking for a young artist with these special skills who could produce the lithographs for his magazine.
William was the Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow, the editor of 'Curtis' Botanical Magazine', and a competent botanical artist in his own right. Fitch beat the other apprentices in that he was less prone to the fanciful patterns so common to the trade, and paid particular attention to creating his patterns from life. Within a short time, Fitch was spending his evenings producing botanical prints for Professor Hooker away from the factory and working late into the night. In 1834, his first published plate appeared in the Botanical Magazine, and soon after Fitch became the sole artist to produce works for the magazine. It was common for him to work on numerous different publications simultaneously. Fitch died in 1892 aged 75.
