Elizabeth Blackwell, A Curious Herbal, Volume 1
Information
Title - 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 the plants; and their common uses in physick.
Record type - Book
Shelf mark - 615.3 Bla
Scope & content - The dedications, in order of insertion in this copy, are in volume I to Richard Mead (motto: Non sidi sed toti), dated 14 July 1737; Thomas Pellet, dated 14 July 1737; Hans Sloane, dated 2 August 1737; Alexander Stuart (motto: Ut supra floreat), dated 2 August 1737; and Robert Nicholls (motto, Ni coles deum nihil), dated 8 August 1737; in volume II to James Douglas (motto: Arcui meonon confid), dated 7 November 1737; Henry Plumptre (motto: Turpi secernere honestum), dated 7 June 1738; Joseph Miller, dated 1 December 1738; Isaac Rand (motto: Rex animalium civis formicarum), dated 16 August 1737; and the author's uncle John Johnstoune [= Johnstoun] (motto: apropinquat aurora), dated 17 January 1739. Most were officials of either the Society of Apothecaries or the Royal College of Physicians.
Elizabeth Blackwell compiled her Curious herbal at the instigation of Sir Hans Sloane, as a means of raising money to redeem her husband, Alexander Blackwell (1709-1747), from imprisonment for debt. On the advice of Isaac Rand she rented a house opposite the Chelse Physic Garden, and used that as her source of plants. Blackwell appears to have originally negotiated with the printer Samuel Harding, but in 1739 the copyright in the herbal was assigned to the printer John Nourse, and Blackwell brought a suit against Harding et al. for publishing unauthorised copies; see Blanche Henrey II p. 233.
The work appeared in parts at the rate of one per week for 125 weeks; the dedications bear dates of 1737-39. See Henrey II 233-4 for a discussion of dates of publication.
The plates featured in the volume are as follows:
Plate 1. Dandelion
Plate 2. Red, wild, or corn poppy
Plate 3. Mullein
Plate 4. Garden Cucumber
Plate 5. Shepherd's purse
Plate 6. Wild Tansie, or Silver Weed
Plate 7. Rue Ruta
Plate 8. Wild Rose
Plate 9. Wood Sage
Plate 10. Sage
Plate 11. White Lilly
Plate 12. Stinging Nettle
Plate 13. Jasmine
Plate 14. Narrow-leaved Plantain
Plate 15. St John's Wort
Plate 16. Fox-Glove
Plate 17. Wormwood
Plate 18. Yarrow
Plate 19. The Garden Bean
Plate 20. Meadow Trefoil or Clover Grass
Plate 21. Agrimony
Plate 22. Common Mallow
Plate 23. Garden Cress
Plate 24. Self-Heal
Plate 25. Wood-Bind or Honey-Suckle
Plate 26. Lark's-Spur
Plate 27. Balm
Plate 28. Hedge-Mustard
Plate 29. White Mustard
Plate 30. Sow Thistle
Plate 31. Crow-foot
Plate 32. Water-Mint
Plate 33. White Archangel or Dead-Nettle
Plate 34. Woody Night-Shade or Bitter-Sweet
Plate 35. Broad-leaved Plantain
Plate 36. Borrage
Plate 37. White Briony
Plate 38. Great White Bindweed
Plate 39. Clivers or Goose Grass
Plate 40. Wheat & Bearded Wheat
Plate 41. Vervein
Plate 42. Ox-Eye Daisy, the Great Daisy
Plate 43. Pimpernel, or Male Pimpernel
Plate 44. Pansies or Heart's Ease
Plate 45. Bramble or Blackberry Bush
Plate 46. Betony
Plate 47. Marum, or Syrian mastic Thyme
Plate 48. Brooktime
Plate 49. Spinge
Plate 50. Wild Teasel
Plate 51. Pilewort or Small Celendine
Plate 52. Primrose
Plate 53. Male Satyrion, or Male Fools
Plate 54. Hollyhocks
Plate 55. March Violet
Plate 56. White Saxifrage
Plate 57. Bears-foot, or Black Hellebore
Plate 58. Doves-foot, or Crane's Bill
Plate 59. Periwinckle
Plate 60. Wood-roof
Plate 61. Hyacinth
Plate 62. Spurge Laurel
Plate 63. Sanicle or Self-Heal
Plate 64. Bugle or middle Confound
Plate 65. Female Piony
Plate 66. The great Blen-bottle
Plate 67. May-Weed, or faetid Camomile
Plate 68. Treacle Mustard
Plate 69. Garden Flowe de-luce
Plate 70. Lillies of the Valley
Plate 71. Sage of Vertue
Plate 72. Ladies mantle
Plate 73. The White Rose
Plate 74. White Hellebore
Plate 75. White Dittany or Fraxinella
Plate 76. Cross-wort
Plate 77. Strawberries
Plate 78. The Red Rose
Plate 79. Ladies Thistle
Plate 80. Melilot
Plate 81. Garden Radish
Plate 82. The Damask Rose
Plate 83. Pease
Plate 84. Hedge Nettle
Plate 85. Clove July-Flowers
Plate 86. Water Betony or Figwort
Plate 87. Great Fig-Wort
Plate 88. Lettice
Plate 89. Bear's Breech, or Brank Ursin
Plate 90. Marshmallows
Plate 91. Great Celandine or Yellow-horn Poppy
Plate 92. Goat's Rue
Plate 93. Great Centory
Plate 94. Tutsan or Park Leaves
Plate 95. Thorow Wax
Plate 96. Swallow Wort, Tame Poison
Plate 97. Pomogranates Granata
Plate 98. Costmary or Mecoast
Plate 99. Arrach
Plate 100. Wild stinking Arrach
Plate 101. The Peach Tree
Plate 102. Plowman's Spikenard
Plate 103. Flea-bane
Plate 104. Basil
Plate 105. The Almond Tree
Plate 106. Marygolds
Plate 107. Night-Shade
Plate 108. Wild Cucumber
Plate 109. Starwort, or Aster Attic
Plate 110. The Eupatorium of Avicenna
Plate 111. White Henbane
Plate 112. Alkanet
Plate 113. Sopewort or Bruisenwort
Plate 114. The Mirtle-Tree
Plate 115. Toad-Flax
Plate 116. Tarragon
Plate 117. The great Burdock
Plate 118. Dead or spotted Arsmart
Plate 119. Sharp Arsmart, or Water Pepper
Plate 120. Buckthorn
Plate 121. The Cornel Tree
Plate 122. Garden Clary
Plate 123. Garden-Spurge or Lathyris
Plate 124. Shepherd's Staff
Plate 125. The Fig Tree
Plate 126. The Mulberry Tree
Plate 127. The Male Cypress Tree
Plate 128. Horse Tongue or Double Tongue
Plate 129. Guinea Pepper
Plate 130. Smooth Sow-thistle
Plate 131. Water Calamint
Plate 132. Grounsel
Plate 133. Love Apple
Plate 134. Mastich Time or Herb Mastich
Plate 135. Buckthorn
Plate 136. Black or Stinking Horehound
Plate 137. Quinces
Plate 138. Hart's Tongue
Plate 139. Agnus castus, or The Chaste Tree
Plate 140. Privet, or Prim Print
Plate 141. The Apple Tree or Pearmain
Plate 142. Devil's Bit, or Smooth Succisa
Plate 143. Male Speedwell
Plate 144. Saffron
Plate 145. Pomgranates
Plate 146. Tobacco
Plate 147. Son-bread
Plate 148. The greater Spurge or Palma Christi
Plate 149. Haw-thorn
Plate 150. Musk Crane's Bill
Plate 151. Elder
Plate 152. Black Alder
Plate 153. The Vine
Plate 154. The Medlar Tree
Plate 155. Kneeholm or Butcher's-broom
Plate 156. Pellitory of the Wall
Plate 157. The Citrul or Water-melon
Plate 158. Wild Iris or Stinking Gladwyn
Plate 159. Rosemary
Plate 160. Flax
Plate 161. Red Winter Cherries
Plate 162. French Mercury
Plate 163. The smaller spurge
Plate 164. Chickweed
Plate 165. The Barberry Bush
Plate 166. Mountain Calamint
Plate 167. The Common Calamint of the Shops
Plate 168. White Ladies-Bed-Straw
Plate 169. Goldon Rod
Plate 170. Fluellin or Female Speedwell
Plate 171. Motherwort
Plate 172. Garden Parsley
Plate 173. The Common Service Tree
Plate 174. The Manur'd Service Tree
Plate 175. The Bay Tree
Plate 176. Coriander
Plate 177. Garden Succory
Plate 178. The Wilding or Crab Tree
Plate 179. Wall-Flower
Plate 180. Small Germander
Plate 181. White Stock July-Flowe
Plate 182. Red Archangel
Plate 183. Wild Succory
Plate 184. Misteltoe
Plate 185. Wild Scabious
Plate 186. The Scarley Oak
Plate 187. The Juniper Tree
Plate 188. The Ivy Tree
Plate 189. The Pine Tree, or manur'd Pine
Plate 190. The Wild Pine
Plate 191. Orpine, or Live-long
Plate 192. Featherfen
Plate 193. The Cork Tree
Plate 194. The Bay of Alexandria
Plate 195. The Mastich or Lentisk Tree
Plate 196. The Box-Tree
Plate 197. The Sweet Cistus of Candy
Plate 198. The Pitch-Tree
Plate 199. The Olive Tree
Plate 200. The Small wild Daisy
Plate 201. The Tamarind Tree
Plate 202. The Palm or Date Tree
Plate 203. The male Fir, or Silver Fir
Plate 204. Colt's-foot or Foles-foot
Plate 205. The Holly Tree
Plate 206. The Magellanic Bay-like Tree
Plate 207. Noble Liverwort
Plate 208. Venetian Orobus
Plate 209. The Carob Tree
Plate 210. The Tree of Life
Plate 211. Thyme
Plate 212. Rue-leaved Whitlon Grass
Plate 213. The Wil Live Tree
Plate 214. The Savine Tree
Plate 215. Wall-fern or Polypody of the Oak
Plate 216. Spleen Wort
Plate 217. Horsetail
Plate 218. Sea Scurvy-Grass
Plate 219. White Maiden Hair
Plate 220. Black Maiden Hair
Plate 221. East India Tamarind
Plate 222. Butterbur
Plate 223. Ladies Smock
Plate 224. Wild Naven
Plate 225. Ground Ivy or Alehoof
Plate 226. The Cowslip or Paigle
Plate 227. Scurvy Grass
Plate 228. Wake Robin or Cuckon-pint
Plate 229. The Common Aloes
Plate 230. Sorrel
Plate 231. Turnep
Plate 232. Wall-pepper or Stonecrop
Plate 233. Yellow Asphodel or King's Spear
Plate 234. Wild Bugloss
Plate 235. Red Beet
Plate 236. Chervil
Plate 237. Fumitory
Plate 238. The tree white Asphodel
Plate 239. Great Woolfs-bane or Leopards-bane
Plate 240. Birch
Plate 241. Stechas, or French Lavender
Plate 242. Rocket
Plate 243. Sweet Cicely
Plate 244. Broom
Plate 245. Male-Piony
Plate 246. Woad
Plate 247. The Wallnut
Plate 248. Black Poplar
Plate 249. Hounds-tongue
Plate 250. Valerian
Plate 251. Solomon's-Seal
Plate 252. Comfrey
Language - English
Copyright - No known copyright restrictions
Credit Line - RHS Lindley Collections
Usage terms - Public Domain