Female Piony

Elizabeth Blackwell, A Curious Herbal: Female Piony

Elizabeth Blackwell was a Scottish-born artist who illustrated, engraved and hand-coloured all 500 plates of her famous work, A Curious Herbal. This image was taken from plate 65 of A Curious Herbal, Volume 1. 

This multi-volume work, published in the 1730s, was an invaluable resource for doctors and apothecaries in the 18th century and beyond. A Curious Herbal is one of the earliest botanical books to have been compiled by a woman.

A Curious Herbal is held in the National Library of Scotland.