> [!cite] BHL link: this entry starts at [page 224](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33120355) of TL-2 Vol. I > Author links: [IPNI](https://www.ipni.org/a/830-1) LSID 830-1, [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469844) QID Q469844 > Support pages: [[Abbreviations|abbreviations]], [[Layout key|layout key]], [[Cite TL-2|cite TL-2]] ### Author Blackwell, Elizabeth (*c*. 1700-1758), Scottish botanist. **Abbreviated name**: *Blackw.* \[standard form in IPNI: *Blackw.*\] #### Herbarium and types Not known to have existed. Elizabeth Blackwell "relieved her husband when in embarassed circumstances \[i.e. in prison because of debts\] by publishing "A curious herbal" 1737..." (DNB, concise ed. p. 109). #### Bibliography and biography Barnhart 1: 195, BB p. 35; BM 1: 169; DNB 5: 144: Henrey 450-455; Jackson p. 31; Kew 1: 259; LS 3037a; NI 168-169; Plesch p. 142-143: PR 811-812. - Hirsching, Hist.-Lit. Handb. 1: 305-308. 1794. - Spiess, Abh. naturhist. Ges. Nürnberg 6: 165-166. 1877. - Pulteney, Sketches 2: 251. 1790. - Jackson, J. Bot. 48: 193-195. 1910 (on Alexander Blackwell). - Lowndes, A. E., A curious herbal. - Blunt, The art of botanical illustration 136-137. 1950. - Lisney, Bibl. Brit. Lepidoptera 1608-1799, 114-120. 1960. #### Eponymy *Blackwellia* J. F. Gmelin (1791, *orth. var.*); *Blakwellia* Commerson ex A. L. Jussieu (1789). ### Publications ##### n.545. A curious herbal **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 ye plants; and their common uses in physick. London (Samuel Harding) 1737, 2 vols. Fol. **Abbreviated title**: *Cur. herbal*. **Notes** *Vol. 1*: t.p., pief. 3 lvs, lvs 1-63, *pl. 1-252*, index 2 lvs, 1737, dedication 14 Jul 1737. *Vol. 2*: t.p., pref. 3 lvs, lvs 64-125, index 2 *lvs, pl. 253-500.* 1737. For a complete description and collations see Henrey, Lisney and HU 510. Actual publication took place in parts between 1737 and 1739. "Each leaf was issued with the four plates described on it, at the rate of one a week for 125 weeks." (HU 510). *Copy*: NY. *Other issues*: *Vol. 1*: *second* issue: London (John Nourse) 1739 (*Copies*: BR, G, HU, MO); *third* issue: London (John Nourse) 1751 (*Copy*: NY); *fourth* issue: London (C. Nourse) 1782. See Lisney for details. *Vol. 2*: *second* issue: London (John Nourse) 1739 (*Copies*: BR, G, HU, MO); *third * issue: London (John Nourse) 1751 (*Copy*: NY); *fourth* issue: London (John Nourse) 1782. *Ref*.: BM 1: 169; DU 42; GF p. 50; Henrey 450-455; HU 510; Jackson p. 31; Kew 1: 259; NI 168; Plesch p. 142; P 811. - Lisney, A bibliography of Brit. Lepidoptera 1960, nos. 172-180 (q.v. for bibliographical details). - Sotheby, Cat. Stiftung Botanik 50. 1975 (sold at *£* 1100). ##### n.546. Herbarium blackwellianum **Title** *Herbarium blackwellianum* emendatum et auctum id est Elizabethae Blackwell collectio stirpium quae in pharmacopoliis ad medicum usum asservantur quarum descriptio et vires ex anglico idiomate in latinum conversae sistuntur... \[other t.p.: Vermehrtes und verbessertes Blackwellisches Kräuterbuch...\] Nürnberg 1747-1773, 6 vols. Fol. **Abbreviated title**: *Herb, blackwell.* **Notes** *Publ*.: The text of this greatly superior Nürnberg version is mostly in German and Latin. The five hundred Blackwell plants are reproduced in five centuries in their original order, and there is an extra century. Altogether there are 616 coloured copper engravings of plants used in pharmacy, but including some poisonous and ornamental plants in the sixth century. Except for the last few plates the engraving is by N. F. Eisenberger and the numbering is 1 to 600. There is one unnumbered plate representing Viscum Mancanillae, and forming the additional coloured title page of the sixth century. Two plates (a, b) were issued for Nos. 269, 322, 341, 497, 498, 522, 523, 536, 539, 547, 573 and 600, and three (a, b, c) for no. 574. No. 75 was re-issued in a corrected version, and both may occur in subscribers' copies (e.g., at K.) Publication was started in 1747 by the painter Eisenberger on a subscription basis, the work being issued in instalments. It was inspired and controlled until his death by C.J. Trew, who wrote the lengthy text for the first ninety plates, a text provided in addition to a translation of the brief notes in Blackwell. Thereafter the text was supervised by the botanist C. G. Ludwig of Leipzig, but others, mainly G. R. Böhmer of Wittenberg, and E. G. Bose of Leipzig, actually wrote it. Ludwig was assisted by F. A. G. Knolle in producing the last century. The text was published simultaneously with the plates until 1749, but thereafter was always in arrears, Trew being mainly responsible for the delay. The dates of the prefaces in the first three centuries, and of the title-pages in the last three, therefore only indicate the date of publication of the last pages of the relevant text. The dates of the title-pages are 1750, 1754, 1757, 1760, 1765 and 1773, and of the prefaces 1 Jun 1752, 3 Mar 1755, 2 Jan 1758, 6 Dec 1759, 31 Jan 1765 and Nov 1772. Trew delayed the first preface against Eisenberger's expectation, in order to include lengthy catalogues of his books with the first century. A reprint dated 1757 of the title-page for this century, by the printer of centuries two to five, is found in the publisher's complete copies (e.g. at British Museum, Bloomsbury; and BMNH) as distinct from subscription copies. The size of the first seven instalments of plates and text is known, but not of the remaining thirty-one instalments for the 500 plates of the Blackwell Herbal paper, nor of the fewer instalments of text. For further details see Tjaden (1972) upon whose article this paragraph is based and the reviews in the Tübingische Ber. gel. Sachen which provide even more detail (BH) – *Copies*: HU, NY. |*plates* (nos.) |dates |*plates* (nos.) |dates| |--- |--- |--- |--- | |1-15 |summer 1747 |181-300 plus |1752-1754| |16-30 |spring 1748 |300 pl.-450 |1754-1757| |31-45 |summer 1748 |451-475 |Mar 1758| | | |476-486 |Jul 1759| | | |487-500 |Dec 1759| |46-60 |winter 1748/49 |501-505 |early 1760| |61-75 |summer 1749 |506-571 |1760-Dec 1766| |76-90 |winter 1749 |572-590b |1767-1771| |91-100 |summer 1750 |5900-600 |1773| |101-180 |1750-1752| |text pp. |dates |text pp. |dates| |--- |--- |--- |--- | |1-90 |as of plates |201-270 |1755-late 1757| |91-100 |summer '50-Jun '52 |270c-300 |Jun 1758| |54 pp. catal. |Jun 1752 |301-400 |1758-1759| |101-200 |Jun'52-late'54 |401-500 |?1760-Jan 1765| |22 pp. catal. |Mar 1755 |501-600 |?1765-Jan 1763| Dandy (1967) discusses the "inadmissible" status of Trew's "generic" names. *Ref*.: BM 1: 169; DA 1967; GF p. 50; Kew 1: 259; Jackson p. 31; NI 169; Plesch p. 142-143; PR 812. - Groening, Nomenclator Linnaeanus in Elizabeth Blackwell herbarium. Leipzig (Graeff) 1794, p. \[i\]-xvi, \[1\]-120, Oct. (*Copy*: UC). - Jourdan, Dict. Sci. méd. 2: 275-276. 1820. - Tjaden, Taxon 21: 147-152. 1972. - Sotheby, Cat. Stiftung Botanik 50. 1975 (sold at *£* 2000).