{"id":16629,"date":"2025-08-04T18:06:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T01:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/?post_type=book&p=16629"},"modified":"2025-08-04T18:32:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T01:32:37","slug":"a-curious-herbal-elizabeth-blackwells-pioneering-masterpiece-of-botanical-art","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/book\/a-curious-herbal-elizabeth-blackwells-pioneering-masterpiece-of-botanical-art\/","title":{"rendered":"A Curious Herbal: Elizabeth Blackwell’s Pioneering Masterpiece of Botanical Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth Blackwell published \u201cA Curious Herbal\u201d in parts between 1735 and 1737.\u00a0 This magnificent work, that I have seen at other libraries, includes her illustrations of 500 plants that were selected for their pharmaceutical qualities.\u00a0 The artist lived near the Chelsea Physic Garden in London and drew from live examples in that garden\u2019s collections.\u00a0 Blackwell also wrote a brief text for each plant describing the size, growing conditions, bloom time, medicinal uses, and the name in several other European languages.<\/p>\n

Besides the merit of this work for its high quality, Blackwell has a compelling story of perseverance under extremes challenges.\u00a0 However, that story has lacked documentation of many details, including such basic facts as the places and years of her birth and death.<\/p>\n

The original is very rare, so I w\"\"as eager for the publication in 2023 of \u201cA Curious Herbal: Elizabeth Blackwell\u2019s Pioneering Masterpiece of Botanical Art,\u201d an excellent reproduction that is near to full-size.\u00a0 Like in the original,\u00a0these images do not follow a taxonomic system, but rather were done as the live specimens became available.\u00a0 It will not surprise gardeners that the first plate done in early spring is of Taraxacum officinale<\/em>, the dandelion.<\/p>\n

What makes this book even more valuable is the introduction by editor Marta McDowell, and a biography of the artist by Janet Stiles Tyson.\u00a0 In this latter chapter, we learned that recently found documents indicate Blackwell was born in London in 1699 and named Elizabeth Simpson.\u00a0 She married Alexander Blackwell, a printer from Scotland in 1733, but he was bankrupt less than a year later.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth was forced to support her family.\u00a0 \u201cFriends advised her to produce pictures that could be published by subscription.\u201d\u00a0 These efforts were successful, but her reckless husband continued to complicate her life.\u00a0 He moved to Sweden for work in 1742, leaving Elizabeth pregnant with their last child.\u00a0 He never returned and was later accused of treason and executed by the Swedish government.\u00a0 Sadly, little is known about Elizabeth after his death, although some sources list her death year as 1758.<\/p>\n

While this story may seem incomplete, Blackwell\u2019s legacy lives on through her work.\u00a0 This book captures that history and received an Award of Excellence in History from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries in 2024.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on May 20, 2024<\/p>\n

Excerpted from the Summer 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth Blackwell published \u201cA Curious Herbal\u201d in parts between 1735 and 1737.\u00a0 This magnificent work, that I have seen at other libraries, includes her illustrations of 500 plants that were selected for their pharmaceutical qualities.\u00a0 The artist lived near the Chelsea Physic Garden in London and drew from live examples in that garden\u2019s collections.\u00a0 Blackwell also wrote a brief text for each plant describing the size, growing conditions, bloom time, medicinal uses, and the name in several other European languages….<\/p>\n

Continue reading A Curious Herbal: Elizabeth Blackwell’s Pioneering Masterpiece of Botanical Art<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[],"class_list":["post-16629","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/16629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/book"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=16629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}