First woman to publish botany book celebrated

History: Talk to be given on life of outcast herbalist

EXTRAORDINARY: Elizabeth Blackwell, right, illustrated a botany book to pay her debtor husband’s bail

The extraordinary life of an Aberdeen woman who wrote a book about botany will be celebrated during Scottish Book Week.

Elizabeth Blackwell wrote A Curious Herbal, the first book of its kind ever to be published by a woman.

Aberdeen University holds an original edition of the book, and it will be on display during a special talk on Mrs Blackwell next month.

North-east storyteller Amanda Edmiston will deliver the talk.

Mrs Blackwell was born in Aberdeen to the wealthy Blachrie family and received a good education which included art, music and languages.

But she scandalised north-east society when she married her debt-laden cousin Alexander and the pair were eventually forced to leave their roots.

Although Mr Blackwell was well educated – his father and brother had both served as principals of Marischal College in Aberdeen – and practised as a physician, he never acquired any formal medical training.

When his right to call himself a doctor was challenged, the couple fled from Aberdeen to London.

After working briefly with a publishing company, he set up in business as a printer, but incurred hefty fines, which he was unable to pay. Finally, he was sent to Highgate Prison.

A talented draughtswoman, Mrs

Blackwell had held an interest in drawing plants since early childhood.

To raise the bail money for her husband’s release, she produced some sample drawings.

When she showed these to the distinguished Sir Hans Sloane and Dr Richard Mead, of the Royal College of Physicians at the renowned Chelsea Physick Garden, they were both impressed and encouraged her to produce more work towards a formal herbal.

A herbal is a book of plants, describing their appearance, their properties and how they may be used for preparing ointments and medicines.

Mrs Blackwell drew plants from life and took the pictures to her husband in his debtor’s cell where he provided the Latin names and descriptions.

She then engraved the copper plates for printing and finally hand-coloured all of the printed images – an accomplishment which would usually have taken at least three different artists and craftsmen.

Her work, A Curious Herbal, was a huge success and received endorsements from the most eminent scientists of the time.

The final book contained 500 illustrations, which were published in 125 weekly instalments from 1736-39, and it also became known across Europe.

Its publication also achieved her desired outcome and she was able to pay for Mr Blackwell’s release from jail in 1739.

Sadly, her husband did not return her loyalty.

Unable to live within his means, following a number of unsuccessful business ventures, he left for Sweden and was alleged to have become embroiled in a plot to overthrow King Frederick I.

He was executed in 1747, just days before his wife was due to join him.

Mrs Blackwell died in 1758, outliving her three children, and was buried in Chelsea.

Mrs Edmiston said: “I first discovered Elizabeth Blackwell when I was commissioned to create a workshop for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow and saw their 1737 copy of A Curious Herbal.

“As you can imagine, I really wanted to tell her story and bring together stories of all the plants she illustrated, so the project is weaving together Elizabeth’s story, snippets of history, traditional uses of the plants, recipes she might have known with stories and folklore about the plants themselves.”

The Very Curious Herbal: A Multisensory Storytelling Evening will be held on November 20 from 6.30pm in the Craig Suite, Sir Duncan Rice Library.

“As you can imagine, I really wanted to tell her story”