Elizabeth Blackwell - Resources for Botanical Art Lovers

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An introduction to Elizabeth Blackwell (1707-1758) and "A Curious Herbal"

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first British woman to produce a herbal and the first woman to engrave as well as draw plants. She compiled and published her hand drawn, engraved and coloured "A Curious Herbal" in 1735 in order to raise funds to free her husband from debtors prison.

This site will be of interest to all botanical artists and all those who enjoy botanical art and natural history. It includes links to biographies and books about her life and work. Plus online galleries and exhibitions which display her work.

Title page of "A Curious Herbal"

Biography of Elizabeth Blackwell 

Elizabeth Blackwell (nee Blachrie) was among the first women to achieve fame as a botanical illustrator.

She was born in Aberdeen in about 1700, but moved to London after she married.

She undertook an ambitious project to raise money to pay her husband's debts and release him from debtors' prison. Her project was a book called A Curious Herbal.

She learned that a physicians required a reference book which documented the medicinal qualities of plants and herbs. In order to develop the Herbal she examined and drew specimens of plants available in the Chelsea Physic Garden. Sir Hans Sloane provided financial support to publish 'A Curious Herbal'.

Elizabeth Blackwell is notable for being one of the first botanical artists to personally etch and engrave her own designs. This saved the expense of hiring a professional engraver. In total, the enterprise took Blackwell six full years to complete and in the end she was able to release her husband from prison.

A Curious Herbal was published between 1737 and 1739. The book contained the first illustrations of many odd-looking, unknown plants from the New World.

She died in 1758, and her grave is in a Chelsea cemetery.
Botanicus - Elizabeth Blackwell
Biography plus links to two of her works

A curious herbal :containing five hundred cuts, of the most useful plants, which are now used in the practice of physick engraved on folio copper plates, after drawings taken from the life /by Elizabeth Blackwell. To which is added a short description of ye plants and their common uses in physick.
Publication info: London : Printed for Samuel Harding, 1737-1739.

Herbarium Blackwellianum emendatum et auctum, id est, Elisabethae Blackwell collectio stirpium :quae in pharmacopoliis ad medicum usum asseruantur, quarum descriptio et vires ex Anglico idiomate in Latinum conversae sistuntur figurae maximam partem ad naturale exemplar emendantur floris fructusque partium repraesentatione augentur et probatis botanicorum nominibus illustrentur. Cum praefatione Tit. Pl. D.D. Christophori Iacobi Trew ; excudit figuras pinxit atque in aes incidit Nicolaus Fridericus Eisenbergerus ...
Publication info: Norimbergae : Typis Io. Iosephi Fleischmanni, 1750-1773.
Elizabeth Blackwell (illustrator) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elizabeth Blackwell (illustrator)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rare Books from the MGB Library - Elizabeth Blackwell
Detailed biography with reference sources
StudioBotanika - Women & The Art of Botanical Illustration - Elizabeth Blackwell
Elizabeth Blackwell (~1700-1758)
Elizabeth Blackwell was a Scottish-born artist who illustrated, engraved and hand-colored all 500 plates of her famous work, A Curious Herbal (published 1737-39). She undertook this enormous project to support her family and pay off her husband Alexander's debts to free him from debtor's prison. Though not formally trained in botany, Elizabeth was able to gain access to the Physic Garden at Chelsea Botanical Garden in London, where she sketched specimens for this new book on medicinal plants. The project was supported by several prominent doctors as well as the Society of Apothecaries, who had great need for an updated herbal.
Elizabeth Blackwell-the forgotten herbalist
Elizabeth Blackwell-the forgotten herbalist?
by Bruce Madge, Head of the Health Care Information Service, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, UK

Wiley InterScience - Health Information and Libraries Journal,
Volume 18, Issue 3 (p 144-152)
Blackwell Science, Ltd

Chelsea Physic Garden

What's a herbal?

A herbal is a book of plants, describing their appearance, their properties and how they may be used for preparing ointments and medicines.

"A Curious Herbal" 

Book compiled and published by Elizabeth Blackwell

Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal is notable both for its beautiful illustrations and for the unusual circumstances of its creation.

A herbal contains illustrations and descriptions of plants, their medicinal preparations, and the ailments for which they are used. The first herbal was written by the Greek physician Dioscorides in the first century AD.

Blackwell's Herbal was an unprecedented enterprise for a woman of her time. She drew, engraved and coloured the illustrations herself, mostly using plant specimens from the Chelsea Physic Garden.

The Herbal was issued in weekly parts between 1737 and 1739, each part containing four illustrated plates and a page of text. It was highly praised by leading physicians and apothecaries (makers and sellers of medicines), and made enough money to secure her husband's freedom.

A Curious Herbal was well received by physicians and apothecaries for its scientific detail and accuracy.
British Library - "A Curious Herbal" - a Turning the Pages" book
An online e-book of A curious Herbal - You first need to select the appropriate version of Turning the Pages 2.0 for your system

This is a digital online version of the copy of "A Curious Herbal which resides in the British Library. It's a finely-bound copy from the collection of King George III. (British Library 34.I.12 -13)

The e-book provides a series of double page spreads with image and explanation of what each plant is and what it is used for

The preface of the book provides a testimonial from the President and governing body of the Royal College of Physicians to the effect that they found Blackwell's illustrations to be very useful.
MBG Rare Books: A curious herbal, containing five hundred cuts, of the most useful plants, which are now used in the practice of physick : engraved on folio copper plates, after drawings taken from the life / by Elizabeth Blackwell. To which is added a short description of ye plants and their common uses in physick.
The Missouri Botanical Garden Library presents its Rare Book Digitization Project.

Exhibitions of the work of Elizabeth Blackwell 

StudioBotanika - Special Exhibit: Women & The Art of Botanical Illustration
Antique botanical prints, orchid prints, bird and natural history prints, hand-colored botanical prints and framed botanical prints from StudioBotanika.

StudioBotanika is pleased to present this special exhibit on the work of female botanical artists throughout the ages. We start with Maria Sibylla Merian's voyage to exotic Surinam in the late 1600s, and continue through the 20th century with pioneering explorers such as Mary Vaux Walcott and Margaret Mee. The exhibit will continue to expand and evolve over the course of this year as we add even more botanical art to our online gallery. Please see the Resources & Links section for further reading and downloads of botanical works featuring female artists.

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