Elizabeth Blackwell was born in London in the early 18th century, and was known in her lifetime for her achievements as a botanical illustrator.

Research:

“A Genuine Copy of a Letter &c.” Stockholm, August 20. H. Carpenter in Fleet Street, 1747. https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Genuine_Copy_of_a_Letter_from_a_Mercha.html?id=EPRbAAAAQAAJ
Alexander, Isabella and Cristina S. Martinez. “2. The First Copyright Case under the 1735 Engravings Act:  The Germination of Visual Copyright?” From Circulation and Control: Artistic Culture and Intellectual Property in the Nineteenth Century. Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire and Will Slauter, editors. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0247
Beharrel, Will. “Elizabeth Blackwell's Curious Herbal.” The Linnean Society. 7/28/2021. https://www.linnean.org/news/2021/07/28/elizabeth-blackwells-curious-herbal
Blackwell, Elizabeth (1737). 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: Printed for Samuel Harding in St Martin’s Lane, MDCCXXXVII (1737) Rubenstein QK99.A1 B53 1737 folio v.1 c.1. Scan of preface. https://blogs.library.duke.edu/rubenstein/files/2022/10/blackwell-preface-scaled.jpg
Bruce, James. “Lives of Eminent Men of Aberdeen.” Aberdeen. The University Press. 1841. https://archive.org/details/b33028722/
Chelsea Physic Garden. “Curious Herbal; Curious Tale.” Newsletter. Spring-Summer 2005.
Child, Lydia Maria. “Biographies of Good Wives.” Boston: Munroe & Francis. 1850. https://archive.org/details/biographiesofgoo00chil_0
Elliott, Brent. “The World of the Renaissance Herbal.” Renaissance Studies. Vol. 25, No. 1. February 2011. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24420235
Evenden, Doreen A. "Blackwell [née Simpson], Elizabeth (1699–1758), botanical author and artist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. August 08, 2024. Oxford University Press. Date of access 18 Jun. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-2540
Grosjean, A. N. L. "Blackwell, Alexander (bap. 1709, d. 1747), agricultural improver and government agent in Sweden." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. June 08, 2023. Oxford University Press. Date of access 18 Jun. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-2539
Huler, Scott. “A Beautiful Find.” Duke Mag. 9/5/2023. https://dukemag.duke.edu/stories/beautiful-find
Madge, Bruce. “Elizabeth Blackwell—the forgotten herbalist?” Health Information & Libraries Journal, 18: 144-152. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1471-1842.2001.00330.x
Monroe, Nicky. “Elizabeth Blackwell’s Curious Herbal.” RHS Libraries and Collections. https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/libraries-at-rhs/articles/elizabeth-blackwell
Newman, Joyce. “Will The Real Elizabeth Blackwell Please Stand Up?” New York Botanical Garden. 7/1/2013. https://www.nybg.org/blogs/plant-talk/2013/07/exhibit-news/will-the-real-elizabeth-blackwell-please-stand-up/
O’Keeffe, Lynda. “Guest post by Lynda O’Keeffe – A Curious Herbal Elizabeth Blackwell’s Pioneering Masterpiece of Botanical Art.” All Things Georgan. 3/8/2024. https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2024/03/08/guest-post-by-lynda-okeeffe-a-curious-herbal-elizabeth-blackwells-pioneering-masterpiece-of-botanical-art/
Pardoe, Heather and Maureen Lazarus. “Images of Botany: Celebrating the Contribution of Women to the History of Botanical Illustration.” Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, Volume 14, Number 4, Fall 2018, pp. 545–566.
RHS Digital Collections. “Elizabeth Blackwell's Curious Herbal.” https://collections.rhs.org.uk/collection/111276
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. “Elizabeth Blackwell: Prison, Plotting and the Curious Herbal.” https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/heritage-blog/elizabeth-blackwell-prison-plotting-and-curious-herbal
Shirk, Henrietta Nickels. “Contributions to Botany, the Female Science, by Two Eighteenth-century Women Technical Communicators.” Technical Communication Quarterly. Vol. 6, No. 3. Summer 1997.
Tyson, Janet Stiles. “Introducing Elizabeth Blackwell to Hans Sloane.” British Library Untold Lives Blog. 5/18/2021. Via Archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20210619032948/https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2021/05/introducing-elizabeth-blackwell-to-h

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