Elizabeth Blackwell (born 23 April 1699 in Aberdeen[1][2][3] –1758) was a botanical illustrator best known as drawer and engraver of the plates for A Curious Herbal, published between 1737 and 1739.

Accounts record that she studied as a midwife with William Smellie, but did not pursue this career due to 'the ignorance and low character of the women who at that time followed the same calling'.

These heavy fines, in addition to Alexander's lavish spending habits, led to his subsequent stay in Highgate Prison for two years.

Left to her own devices with no income, a house to run, and a child to raise, Blackwell decided to put to use her training as an artist.

As she completed the drawings, Blackwell would take them to her husband's cell where he supplied the correct names in Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and German.

The imprint read "London printed for Samuel Harding in St Martin’s Lane"[11] and the new publication was announced in the Gentleman’s Magazine for July 1737.

Within a short while debts again accumulated, forcing the couple to sell half of the publication rights to the book to John Nourse, a bookseller in London.

Where Alexander's trail of bad decisions lead him to death by execution for conspiracy against the Crown on 9 August 1747 as Elizabeth was leaving London to join him.

Sparked by the European Renaissance and popularized by illustrators such as Leonhart Fuchs, this style was meant to give the viewer an understanding of the forms of organism from a scientific as well as artistic perspective.

This present took the form of a commendation from Thomas Pellet, the President of the Royal College of Physicians, which appears in most copies of A Curious Herbal.

During the preliminary stages of her work on A Curious Herbal, she submitted drawings to Sir Hans Sloane, president of the Royal Society in 1712, and Dr. Richard Mead, a notable physician, who encouraged her to pursue publication.

[21] The skill and diligence she displayed in engraving and hand painting all the plates herself should also be remembered as should her dedication to freeing her husband from debtors prison.

[22] Preserved in the British Library's manuscript collections are several transactions made during 1737 and 1747 regarding the purchase of shares and copyright deed to the herbal from the Blackwells by John Nourse.

Examples of Blackwell's work were included in ‘Print and Prejudice: Women Printmakers, 1700-1930’, an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, 2022-23.

[23] In 2023, Abbeville Press published the first modern edition of A Curious Herbal, featuring essays by Marta McDowell and Janet Stiles Tyson.