{"product_id":"a-curious-herbal-elizabeth-blackwells-pioneering-masterpiece-of-botanical-art-9780789214539","title":"A Curious Herbal: Elizabeth Blackwell's Pioneering Masterpiece of Botanical Art","description":"In the 1730s, Elizabeth Blackwell (1699-c. 1758) found herself penniless, with her ne'er-do-well husband confined to a London debtor's prison. A talented artist, she came up with a unique and ambitious moneymaking scheme: the publication of a new illustrated guide to medicinal plants, including many New World species not depicted in earlier books. Blackwell's \u003cem\u003eCurious Herbal\u003c\/em\u003e, published between 1737 and 1739, was hailed for its usefulness to doctors and apothecaries and met with considerable financial success.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This magnificent volume--the first modern edition of Blackwell's herbal--reproduces all five hundred of her exquisite plates. Blackwell not only made the drawings, but prepared the copper plates and personally hand-colored them. Her handwritten descriptions of the plants, which she creatively adapted (with permission) from Joseph Miller's \u003cem\u003eBotanicum Officinale\u003c\/em\u003e, retain considerable interest. This book features a previously unknown preface by Blackwell, in which she reveals her passion for art and nature, and her vision for the herbal. 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Curious Herbal\u003c\/em\u003e will be essential for all lovers of botanical art, and for anyone interested in women's history and the history of science.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Abbeville Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50630585024786,"sku":"9780789214539","price":53.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c9ea3b3b-33d5-41d6-a6bc-51be2780a130.jpg?v=1732755227","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-curious-herbal-elizabeth-blackwells-pioneering-masterpiece-of-botanical-art-9780789214539","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}