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Overview
Overview
In the 1730s, Elizabeth Blackwell (c. 1707-1758, not to be confused with the nineteenth-century physician of the same name) found herself penniless, with her ne'er-do-well husband confined to debtor's prison. But being a talented artist, and seeing a need for a medicinal herbal, she put paintbrush to paper and created 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. This work, published between 1737 and 1739, was hailed for its usefulness to medicine and met with considerable financial success.
This magnificent volume--the first modern edition of Blackwell's herbal--reproduces all five hundred of her exquisite plates (not only drawn but engraved and hand-colored by her personally) along with her descriptions of the plants, which retain considerable interest. Two introductory texts contextualize Blackwell's achievement: the noted garden writer Marta McDowell explores the history of herbals as a genre, and the state of botanical knowledge in Blackwell's time; and the historian Janet Stiles Tyson relates the artist's rather extraordinary biography.
A Curious Herbal will be essential for all lovers of botanical art, and for anyone interested in women's history and the history of science.
This magnificent volume--the first modern edition of Blackwell's herbal--reproduces all five hundred of her exquisite plates (not only drawn but engraved and hand-colored by her personally) along with her descriptions of the plants, which retain considerable interest. Two introductory texts contextualize Blackwell's achievement: the noted garden writer Marta McDowell explores the history of herbals as a genre, and the state of botanical knowledge in Blackwell's time; and the historian Janet Stiles Tyson relates the artist's rather extraordinary biography.
A Curious Herbal will be essential for all lovers of botanical art, and for anyone interested in women's history and the history of science.
- Format: Hardcover
- Author: McDowell, Marta
- ISBN: 9780789214539
- Condition: New
- Number Of Pages: 576
- Publication Year: 2023
Language:
English