Elizabeth Blackwell's Curious Herbal

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stuff You Missed In History Class

Episode: Elizabeth Blackwell's Curious Herbal
Hosts: Tracy V. Wilson & Holly Fry
Date: July 1, 2026

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Overview

This episode explores the remarkable life and legacy of Elizabeth Blackwell, the 18th-century botanical illustrator behind A Curious Herbal. Not to be confused with the first American woman to earn an MD, this Elizabeth Blackwell was a London-born artist whose work significantly impacted botanical science and women's history. The hosts dive into the complexities of her biography, the misattributions over centuries, her struggle to support her family, and the lasting importance of her meticulously illustrated herbal.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Unraveling Elizabeth Blackwell’s Identity

• Confusions in Historical Record:
  • Many sources conflate “Elizabeth Blackwell” with others, notably the American Dr. Blackwell.
  • Early biographical errors were perpetuated due to her husband’s notoriety and later historians seeking connections with Alexander Blackwell’s Scottish origins.
  • Janet Stiles Tyson’s 2021 PhD thesis clarifies Elizabeth’s true London roots and the misidentifications (04:00–06:36).
• Discovery of Her True Background:
  • Tyson found a new preface in a Duke University copy, written by Blackwell herself, confirming she was the daughter of Leonard Simpson, born April 23, 1699, in London (05:54–06:36).
  • Quote from Blackwell:

    “I from my very infancy showed an inclination to imitate pictures and to attempt drawing such things as pleased me... My father, Leonard Simpson, being a painter—or a genius born with me, I can't determine.” (06:55, Blackwell as cited by Tracy)

2. Early Life and Artistic Passion

• Lost her father young, limiting opportunities for formal art training.
• Developed a fascination with flowers and plants; frustrated by small, unclear botanical illustrations available at the time (07:22).
• Inspired to make larger, more instructive plant drawings, possibly influenced by earlier artist Maria Sibylla Merian (08:02).

3. Marriage and Financial Hardship

• Married Alexander Blackwell in 1733. Misconceptions exist about a dramatic romantic elopement—likely fiction (09:23).
• Alexander’s background is murky; he attempted multiple professions, from medicine (questionably credentialed) to printing (09:51–11:02).
• He ran afoul of the Stationer’s Guild, was fined, declared bankrupt, and family finances collapsed. Whether he was truly imprisoned or avoided it is unclear (12:00).

4. The Creation of A Curious Herbal

• Necessity Drives Ambition:
  • Elizabeth sought to support her family, proposing a subscription-based botanical prints project (12:17, 17:08).
• Building Support Networks:
  • Gained support from the scientific and apothecary community, including Sir Hans Sloane, Isaac Rand, and Dr. Richard Mead (17:08–18:25).
• Work Process and Output:
  • Lived near the Chelsea Physic Garden for direct plant study (19:35).
  • Produced four detailed botanical illustrations a week for 150 weeks—an impressive feat, especially given her personal tragedies and lack of rest (21:11).
  • Balancing botanical accuracy, artistic speed, and hand-coloring for subscribers (21:52).
  • Illustrated, etched/engraved, and colored over 500 plants—often three jobs in one, typically done by different people (24:08–24:56).
  • Quote from Blackwell regarding her limitations and gratitude:

    “I humbly hope my subscribers will show their goodness in pardoning these defects...If it should please God to give my life and health, I shall employ my leisure in finishing the plates, rectifying mistakes and supplying defects that they may be more complete.” (21:52, Blackwell as cited by Holly)

5. Publication and Reception

• Final volumes published in 1739 as A Curious Herbal...
• The herbal became the first major botanical book published by a British woman, expanding scientific knowledge of plants from the Americas and Asia, and was practical for both professionals and laypeople with means (24:56–27:37).
• Widely praised and endorsed by learned societies, but some critics complained of its reliance on existing, though previously unillustrated, texts (27:37).

6. Protecting Her Work

• Blackwell and her husband filed England’s first copyright suit involving a female artist under new British copyright law (the Statute of Anne and Hogarth Act) (32:42–35:28).
• Witnesses included Robert Nichols, Blackwell’s mother, and artist William Hogarth, who testified in her favor.
• The court granted an injunction but no monetary damages due to missing date markings. Piracy of her prints continued (35:28).

7. The Later Years

• Alexander’s later life in Sweden: Hired at court, possibly as a physician/consultant, then executed for alleged international intrigue and court scandals in 1747 (37:50).
• Elizabeth sold remaining rights to her herbal, possibly to clear debts ahead of moving to Sweden—a plan disrupted by Alexander’s death (37:21).
• Unclear what happened to Elizabeth afterward; she may have returned to midwifery, died in 1758, and was buried at Chelsea Old Church (40:04).

8. Legacy of A Curious Herbal

• Reprinted in multiple editions and languages; found in major scientific collections across Europe and North America (40:27).
• Notable admirers included Carl Linnaeus, who nicknamed her “Botanica Blackwellia.”
• James Bruce (1841) praised her work:

  “A man of a generous mind will feel more pleasure in turning over these two large folios...than he would in handling an earring of Cleopatra or even a lock of Helen of Troy's hair.” (41:01, cited by Tracy)

• Lydia Maria Child (1846) quoted Richard Pulteney:

  “For the most complete set of drawings of medicinal plants, we are indebted to the genius and industry of a lady exerted on an occasion that redounded highly on her praise.” (41:42, cited by Holly)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On discovering her identity: “Tyson found a new preface in a Duke University copy...And in that preface she said that she was the daughter of Leonard Simpson.” (05:54)
• Blackwell’s early artistic drive:

  “Whether this proceeded from the strong impressions made on my tender brain by the agreeable objects I was daily surrounded with...I can't determine.” (06:55)

• The relentless work schedule:

  “[She] produced a fascicule of four prints a week, every week for 150 weeks. And that gave her an ongoing source of steady income.” (20:19, Holly)

• On court arguments for copyright:

  “Like Blackwell's artwork was drawn from life, not from her own imagination. Did that fall under the law's definitions, which included a lot of references to invention and design? Ultimately, yes.” (34:49, Holly)

• Alexander Blackwell’s execution:

  “As it was the first experiment he ever made in that way, it was not to be wondered that he should need a little instruction.” (39:43, execution anecdote)

• Legacy recognition:

  “For the most complete set of drawings of medicinal plants, we are indebted to the genius and industry of a lady...” (41:42, Holly as quoting Child)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & Episode Theme: 02:42–03:55
• Confusions About Blackwell’s Identity & Recent Discoveries: 03:55–06:36
• Early Life and Artistic Inclinations: 06:36–08:49
• Marriage to Alexander & The Printing Debacle: 09:23–12:00
• Launch of A Curious Herbal Project: 17:08–19:35
• Daily Life, Workload, and Printmaking Techniques: 19:35–24:56
• Book Publication and Reception: 24:56–27:37
• Copyright Suit and Legal Innovations: 32:42–35:28
• Alexander in Sweden and Tragic End: 36:42–39:43
• Elizabeth’s Final Years and Death: 40:04–40:27
• Herbal’s Impact & Later Editions: 40:27–41:42
• Enduring Quotations and Reflections on Legacy: 41:01–42:05

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Tone & Style

The episode is direct, detailed, thoughtful, and sprinkled with affection for Elizabeth Blackwell’s perseverance. The hosts bring out wit and warmth, especially when quoting Blackwell herself, relishing the “delightful” 18th-century language and reflecting on the broader historical context for women in science and publishing.

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Takeaways

Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal remains a testament to artistic excellence, scientific rigor, and personal resilience. Through social hardship, legal innovations, and gendered obstacles, Blackwell secured her place as a pioneering woman in science, inspiration to later generations, and an enduring figure in botanical history.

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Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

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Hey, this is Chuck from Stuff youf Should Know. And we're submitting our most science Y episodes for your peer review with our new Stuff you should Know. Doing science playlist out now. You want to know about Occam's Razor? The simplest explanation is usually the right one. We got you covered. Wondered what chaos theory is ever since the first time you saw Jurassic Park. Well, come on down. So distill a nice pot of tea, everybody. Turn down the gas on your Bunsen burner. Let's and slip into your most comfortable lab coat and listen to the stuff you should know doing Science Playlist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Holly Fry]

Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartradio.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Fry]

And I'm Holly Fry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

A few weeks ago I took a little trip to England and while I was there I took the train to Oxford and I visited the Ashmolean Museum. They currently have an exhibit called In How Plants Changed Our World and I really enjoyed that. And one of the things I saw in that exhibition was a facsimile of Elizabeth Blackwell's book A Curious Herbal. There's a longer title than that which we will be reading later. I'm saving it, savoring the long title. So I knew this was a different Elizabeth Blackwell from the one we have covered on the show before, who became the first woman in the US to earn an MD in 1849. Our episode on that Elizabeth Blackwell came out in 2014. This Elizabeth Blackwell was born in London more than a century before the American Dr. Blackwell and was known for her achievements as a botanical illustrator.

[Holly Fry]

And if you read articles about Elizabeth Blackwell, including fairly recent ones, it is

[Tracy V. Wilson]

very possible to highly likely that you

[Holly Fry]

will get some incorrect details about who she was and where she was born. Some of these errors actually date back to her own lifetime and then they were repeated and embellished in the decades that followed. And one reason is that more than a decade into their marriage, Elizabeth's husband Alexander became infamous for reasons that we are going to get into. People writing about him naturally wanted to include some details about his well known wife. He had been born in Aberdeen, so people just assumed that she had too. And eventually people found an Elizabeth from Aberdeen who seemed to be about the right age to have married Alexander. He had been baptized in 1709 and this other person was Elizabeth Blatchery, who was a daughter of a merchant and. And she was baptized in 1707. So their ages seemed to match up. But that was the wrong Elizabeth.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. And I found this situation very confusing when I was researching this because there were two wildly different stories of who this person was. No explanation for the contradiction and most of the credit for correcting this information goes to Janet Stiles Tyson, who completed a PhD thesis on Elizabeth Blackwell in 2021. Tyson's thesis points out that there's really nothing to substantiate a marriage between Elizabeth Blatchry and Alexander Blackwell, but there was an Elizabeth Simpson who married An Alexander Blackwell in Holborn on October 1st of 1733. When she finished her thesis, though Tyson could not verify that these were the same Elizabeth and Alexander as we're talking about today. Those names, all the names involved, were common enough that it was within the realm of possibility that they could just be different people.

[Holly Fry]

But then, in 2022, Tyson was working on an essay to go into a new edition of Elizabeth Blackwell's Herbal. She was trying to personally examine as many copies of the book as she possibly could. And that took her to David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University. And the copy in that collection included a two page preface that had not been in any of the other copies that Tyson looked at. And it was a preface that Blackwell had written herself, and it was dated April 12, 1739. And in that preface she said that she was the daughter of Leonard Simpson.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So Elizabeth Simpson was born in the city of London on April 23, 1699, to Leonard and Alice Simpson Simpson. She was baptized on May 4th of that year. The Simpsons lodged with a shoemaker who was also named Simpson, so that might have been their relative.

[Holly Fry]

In this newly discovered preface, Blackwell said of herself, quote, I from my very infancy showed an inclination to imitate pictures and to attempt drawing such things as pleased me. Whether this proceeded from the strong impressions made on my tender brain by the agreeable objects I was daily surrounded with. My father, Leonard Simpson, being a painter or a genius born with me, I can't determine.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Sadly, Elizabeth did not get the benefit of much art instruction from her father, who died when she was still very young. But as she got older, she developed a particular love for drawing and painting flowers and for representing them in her needlework. She was also very curious about the flowers and plants that she encountered out in the world, especially the ones that were growing in the wild child. But when she tried to look these plants up in books, she often found herself frustrated and dissatisfied. And this was because, in her words, the illustrations in those books were often, quote, too small and confused to be instructive.

[Holly Fry]

As she grew up, Elizabeth Blackwell continued pursuing her childhood love of learning about drawing and painting plants and flowers. Eventually, she started working on solving that problem of too small and cramped illustrations, embarking on a project of making full size depictions of plants with each picture on its own page. It is possible that she was inspired by the work of Maria Siboula Merian, who we have covered on the show before and who published three volumes of flower engravings between 1675 and 1680. After Blackwell finished Some samples of these full page flower drawings. She showed them to some gentlemen of her acquaintance who in her words were quote, unquote, pleased to commend the performance.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

However, she went on to say, quote, but this scene of pleasure was interrupted by some misfortunes which deprived Mr. Blackwell of all employment and so far reduced us that I found it necessary to consider what I could do towards supporting my family. Her friends encouraged her to, quote, make proposals for designing, engraving and publishing by subscription a set of prints of the physical plants which work, they judged, would be very useful and acceptable to the public.

[Holly Fry]

So that Mr. Blackwell was, of course, her husband, Alexander Blackwell. They had gotten married in 1733. There are various stories floating around about the two of them having eloped in secret, but this seems to have been a fabrication that appeared in the early 19th century. Alexander's birth date is unclear, but since he was baptized in 1709, it is possible that he was at least a decade younger than Elizabeth.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Alexander was from a respectable family. His father, Thomas, was a minister who served as Moderator of the General assembly of the Church of Scotland, as well as a professor of divinity and principal at Marischal College in Aberdeen. Alexander had a brother who was also called Thomas, who was a classical scholar and historian and the author of multiple books. Most sources about Alexander say that he had a university education and studied medicine in Leiden in the Netherlands, but there's no clear documentation of this anywhere and just no record of his ever earning a degree.

[Holly Fry]

As for the misfortunes which deprived Mr. Blackwell of all employment, some accounts say that Alexander was practicing medicine without the qualifications to actually do so, and that after this raised suspicion, he and Elizabeth had to flee to London. That doesn't really make sense though, since Elizabeth was from London and that is where they got married. These accounts make it sound like the couple had to start over in a place that was new to them. But it seems like they were already in London when this supposed quackery allegation would have happened.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In Scotland, the misfortunes that were connected to Alexander's work as a printer are easier to substantiate. About three years before he and Elizabeth got married, he had started working as a corrector at a press belonging to man named Mr. Wilkins. And then after their marriage, Alexander decided to start his own press, and it's possible that his startup costs came from Elizabeth's dowry. But the Stationers Guild had a monopoly on printing and a person had to complete an apprenticeship before they could become a printer on their own. Alexander Blackwell had not gone through an apprenticeship and was not a member of the Stationers Guild. So he faced a lawsuit almost immediately. On July 10, 1734, he appeared in court under charges that he, quote, exercised the art and mystery of a printer not having served regular apprenticeship in the trade.

[Holly Fry]

Alexander was fined and apparently he did not have the money to pay that fine. Two months later, he was declared bankrupt. According to some accounts, he spent two years in a debtor's prison, but the bankruptcy would have allowed him to avoid imprisonment.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Regardless of whether Alexander was imprisoned or not, after all of this happened, it fell to Elizabeth to try to provide for them. And we will get to that after a sponsor break.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

Elizabeth Blackwell's plan of supporting her family and paying off her husband's debts by publishing prints of medicinal plants required her to develop a whole network of contacts and supporters in the world of English medicine, alchemy and botany. In August of 1735, physician Alexander Stewart wrote a letter of introduction to Sir Hans Sloane, President of the Royal Society, describing Blackwell as the, quote, niece of Sir William Simpson, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, whom you know, and first cousin to my Lady Cook Windford, whom you also know.

[Holly Fry]

This letter described Blackwell as a, quote, very ingenious person and said she was embarking on a project to create illustrations of about 500 medicinal plants and have them engraved. It also said that she already had the support of Isaac Rand, director of the Apothecary's Physic Garden, now known as Chelsea Physic Garden, where the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries grew their medicinal plants. Rand had helped Blackwell develop the proposal for this project, which was also being provided for Sloan to review. Along with the letter of introduction, Blackwell

[Tracy V. Wilson]

also had the support of Dr. Richard Mead, fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians, and Thomas Pellet, President of the Royal College of Physicians. Her first prints of these plants were just the illustrations of the plants labeled with their names, but eventually she also started including descriptive text about the plants and their uses and preparations. A major source of that text was the 1721 edition of the Dispensatory of the Royal College of Physicians.

[Holly Fry]

Joseph Miller, master of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, was also on board with Blackwell's project and his Botanicum Officinale, or A Compendious Herbal, giving an account of all such plants as are now used in the practice of physic, was another major source for the descriptive text. Neither Botanicum Officinale nor the Dispensatory was illustrated, so the idea was to bring all of this information under one cover, making the illustrations more useful to people who didn't already have one of these other texts.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In 1736, Blackwell, either by herself or with Alexander, since it's not totally clear whether he was imprisoned or not, rented lodgings at four Swan Walk that was across the street from the Physic Garden, and that gave Blackwell easy access to the plants so that she could draw them from life. On April 27th of that same year, her first child, a son named William, was baptized. Tragically, William died a few days later and was buried at St Luke's Chelsea on May 3rd. This was very sadly, not the family's only loss in an era of widespread child mortality. A daughter named Blanche was born in 1737 and died the following year.

[Holly Fry]

Blackwell started selling flower prints to subscribers through printer Samuel Harding in 1737, and these serialized sets of pages were called fascicules, and uncolored fascicules cost a shilling each. Colored versions, which Blackwell hand colored herself after printing, cost two shillings. She produced a fascicule of four prints a week, every week for 150 weeks. And that gave her an ongoing source of steady income. As she was working on this project, her subscribers could collate all the fascicules and have them bound once they were complete. Which means there is a lot of variation among the more than 100 bound volumes that exist in libraries and museum collections today. Most of these are in the uk, Western Europe and North America.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Four illustrations a week is a lot, especially considering that Blackwell didn't really take breaks for things like pregnancy or giving birth or caring for a newborn or grieving the death of a child. She had to work really quickly. She focused on making sure the outlines were correct and then she did less shading if she was running out of time. Her production schedule was also tied to what was growing or blooming at the apothecary's physic garden. She incorporated other research, but the plants that she could draw from life really took priority and that meant there wasn't always a logical order to the fascicules or the bound copies that were made from them.

[Holly Fry]

She wrote of these limitations. Quote, I humbly hope my subscribers will show their goodness in pardoning these defects and that my good friends, who were anyways helpful to me in carrying on this work, will accept my most hearty thanks. If it should please God to give my life and health, I shall employ my leisure in finishing the plates, rectifying mistakes and supplying defects that they may be more complete.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Some accounts say that Blackwell's husband helped her with the text of the book, including providing information about the medicinal uses for the plants or translating the plants names into different languages. Sometimes his work is described as happening from his cell in the debtors prison, but it is not fully clear how involved he was in this part of this production, since most of the text has a clear connection to the Royal College of Physicians dispensatory and Joseph Miller's Botanicum Officinale.

[Holly Fry]

Alexander was definitely involved in the arrangements and contracts for getting the book printed, though under the doctrine of coverture, married women in the UK did not have their own legal existence beyond that of their husband. Alexander's signature is the one on formal agreements related to printing and distribution, although there are also explicit acknowledgments that the work was.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Elizabeth Blackwell likely also had some help with some of the steps that were required to produce these prints, but she's generally recognized as creating a watercolor drawing of each plant and also hand coloring the printed pages for the subscribers that paid for them to be colored. She also either etched or engraved the plates that they were printed from. Engraving and etching are two different ways of preparing a plate for printing by incising the design into the surface. Those kinds of printing techniques are known as intaglio printing. And that's in contrast to things like woodblock printing that we've talked about on the show before, where the parts of the wood that are not part of the design are removed. That category of printing is known as relief printing.

[Holly Fry]

Contemporary sources describe Blackwell's work using the terms engraving and etching almost interchangeably, but these are different techniques. Blackwell's illustrations appear to be etched, while the pages containing explanatory text look like they were engraved. Etching is also something Blackwell probably could have learned to do more easily than engraving because of the steps involved. There are documents in which Blackwell mentions using a calligrapher for the explanatory text. So it's possible that she did the etchings for the illustrations while someone else engraved the calligraphy. Regardless, by illustrating the plants, making the plates and coloring them, she was doing three different jobs that were more often handled by completely different people.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

When Blackwell had finished 150 sets of four illustrations in 1739, bookseller John Norse printed them as a complete two volume book under the title A curious herbal containing 500 cuts of the most useful useful plants which are now used in the practice of physic, engraved on folio copper plates after drawings taken from the Life by Elizabeth Blackwell, to which is added a short description of the plants and their common uses in physic that the is of course spelled Y E, which I love. At the time, the word curious had a lot of meanings that it does not really carry today, including made with care, carefully worked out or accurate. This is Blackwell's only known published work.

[Holly Fry]

The printed volumes of the Curious Herbal included an endorsement that she had also printed alongside calls for subscribers, dated October 1, 1735. It read, quote, this undertaking was honored with the following public recommendation by the underwritten gentleman. We whose names are underwritten, having seen a considerable number of the drawings from which the plates are to be engraved, and likewise some of the colored plants think it's a justice done to the public to declare our satisfaction with them and our good opinion of the capacity of the undertaker. This was followed by the names of nine men, five of them MDs. They included some of the men that we have already mentioned, Richard Mead, Alexander Stewart, Joseph Miller and Isaac Rand. Different copies of her books also contained an assortment of dedications to various learned men who had supported her work or helped her with it.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This herbal was one of the most comprehensive texts on medicinal plants that was available in Europe in the early mid 18th century, and it was the first major herbal to be published by a British woman. It included plants from the Americas and Asia, places where England neither had or had previously had colonies, which meant there were a lot of plants that Europeans had never seen before included in it. The fact that it was illustrated made it a useful reference for doctors, apothecaries, and others who needed to gather and prepare their own plants, including women who wanted to grow medicinal plants in their kitchen gardens. Herbals were also popular as literature, so Blackwell's readers also included laypeople who were able to afford something as expensive as a 500 page book for their libraries.

[Holly Fry]

While her book was widely praised, including being endorsed by the Royal College of Physicians, there were critics who dismissed it for not including new information. While it was true that most of the text came from two well established references, neither of those books had been illustrated.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We will get to Elizabeth Blackwell's life after finishing her book after a sponsor break.

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[Hoda Kotb]

Refreshers contain caffeine hey, I'm Hoda Kotb, host of the podcast Joy 101 with Hoda Kotbi. Okay, if you know me, you know this. I'm always searching for inspiration, for support and useful tools to help maximize joy. So this podcast lets us uncover all of that together. We're gonna have these meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating people. Like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges that she never saw coming.

[Olivia Munn]

I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer, and that was more difficult. There's a lot of people who understand postpartum depression. I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety.

[Hoda Kotb]

Olympic champ Shawn Johnson revealed why she had no choice but to be a gymnast.

[Shawn Johnson]

There was something about gymnastics that was intoxicating. It's given me a belief that we all have one of those treasures inside of us. We just have to find it.

[Hoda Kotb]

Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unidentified Historian or Commentator]

The Declaration, which is full of these beautifully rendered, you know, sentences and paragraphs about Enlightenment ideals, does also have this

[Tracy V. Wilson]

darker history to why is it important

[Rebecca Nagle]

for the darker part of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution? Why is it important that Americans know about it?

[Unidentified Historian or Commentator]

Well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself.

[Rebecca Nagle]

I'm Rebecca Nagel, citizen of Cherokee Nation.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Are you guys big Chiefs fans? Hell yeah.

[Rebecca Nagle]

This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Theo Henderson]

Mainstream media is full of crude depictions of the unhoused, stories that shame and blame and paint the unhoused as a monolith. We the Unhoused is the podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator and host, and for years I've created a space where the unhoused and their advocates can tell their own stories. In the last few months alone, I've interviewed unhoused parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBQTIA community, and the policymaker who make the laws that impact the unhoused existence. We'd In House is a two time Webby and Signal award winning show with many exciting guests on the horizon. Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Jill Wicheric, a street doctor turned influencer whose work with the Unhoused community has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to we the unhoused on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Michael Rapoport]

This is Michael Rapoport and my podcast, the I Am Rappaport Stereo podcast is unlike anyone you've ever heard. We're a variety show and if you're looking for strong opinions, funny opinions about sports, entertainment, politics, pop culture and whatever else catches my attention, then subscribe now.

[Unidentified Fan or Commentator]

This kid Jafar Jackson is as good as Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, and it's as good as Timothee Chamele as Bob Dylan. And I say that with love and respect for both of those actors. And I don't know how many Oscar nominations they give out. I don't know if it's 5, 6 for best actor 150%. This kid Jafar Jackson should absolutely, positively get nominated for his portrayal as Michael Jackson.

[Michael Rapoport]

Listen to I Am rappaport on the iHeartRadio app app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Sources are contradictory when it comes to Alexander Blackwell's debt, bankruptcy, possible imprisonment, and exactly how it was all affected by the publication of Elizabeth Blackwell's curious Herbal. Some say that the proceeds allowed Elizabeth to pay off Alexander's debts and get him out of prison. But then he kept racking up new ones. Something that is more clearly documented is that the Blackwells had to work to protect the copyright on Elizabeth's work, and that, by extension, they were protecting the income that they could earn from that work. On March 9th of 1738, they filed a complaint in the Court of Chancery against eight named men and, quote, diverse other persons for infringing on their copyright.

[Holly Fry]

The idea of authors having legal ownership of their work was fairly new in England and was first established under the Statute of Anne of 1710. Prior to that, ownership and copyright had been regulated by the Stationer's Guild rather than by the government or the courts. Bound copies of Blackwell's Herbal probably would have been covered under the Statute of Ann, but only because they were in the form of a book. Unbound fascicules would not have been protected. And that's a gap that was closed under the engravings act of 1735, also known as the Hogarth act, after painter and engraver William Hogarth, who we have covered on the show before.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, so that was just a few years before Blackwell filed this suit. And her suit was the first copyright case in England involving works created by a female artist. Witnesses in the case included apothecary Robert Nichols, who testified to supplying Blackwell with plants to draw, and Blackwell's mother, Elizabeth Simpson, who testified about seeing Blackwell work on the book, and also William Hogarth, who was an expert witness and testified about the work that was being sold by these other men being copies.

[Holly Fry]

This case also involved a lot of discussion that grew from law and the concepts it covered being fairly new. Like Blackwell's artwork was drawn from life, not from her own imagination. Did that fall under the law's definitions, which included a lot of references to invention and design? Ultimately, yes. Also, how could the court account for the fact that the work was created by a woman, while the legal ownership was with her husband? In this case, both of the Blackwells were plaintiffs, and the court acknowledged Elizabeth as proprietor of the work.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In the end, the Blackwells were awarded an injunction that was supposed to stop the other publishers from stealing her work. But because she hadn't marked the prints with the date of their first printing, which was required under the law, she was not awarded monetary penalties. The Injunction also didn't fully put an end to the infringement. There are things like advertisements and printed warnings from after this point about fraudulent editions of the herbal.

[Holly Fry]

If Alexander Blackwell did go to debtors prison, he was out by 1740. And in 1741 he published a book on agriculture called A New Method of Improving Cold, Wet and Barren Lands, Particularly Clay Grounds, with the manner of burning clay, turf and molehills, as practiced in North Britain, to which is added the method of cultivating and raising fruit trees in such soils. Did Alexander Blackwell have the knowledge and expertise that would allow him to write an accurate book on this subject? Unclear. But he did get a job working for James Bridges, Duke of Chandos, as director of improvements on the Duke's lands.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

After that, things get murky for Alexander and a lot of the writing about what happened next is vague or contradictory or both. Apparently, on the recommendation of the Swedish ambassador in London, he went to Sweden, where he got a job at court. This most likely happened while Elizabeth was pregnant with their son, also named Alexander, who was born in 1742. The elder Alexander seems to have worked as both a court physician and on agricultural improvements, and in 1745 he published an essay on the improvement of Swedish agriculture.

[Holly Fry]

It appears that Elizabeth was preparing to join her husband in Sweden in 1747, and she sold the remaining rights to her herbal to bookseller John Norse. The Blackwells had sold partial rights to Norse over the years, and this final sale of the remaining rights also included unsold books and the printing plates. This cleared some debts that Elizabeth had accrued that were connected to the printing of the finished book, as well as other debts of Alexander's.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

But then, on July 29, 1747, probably before Elizabeth would have embarked on this journey, Alexander was beheaded. According to a pamphlet that was published about this that same year, he was suspected of, quote, being employed as an agent for some courts abroad. Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus reportedly called Alexander Blackwell a self assertive ignoramus and also claimed that Alexander Blackwell had tried to bribe the king to appoint an English counselor. Linnaeus also claimed that Alexander had been having an affair with a married woman and had supplied that woman with poison in order to kill her husband with it. Some of this also seems to have been connected to court intrigue and a dispute over the Swedish line of succession, all of which could have been an entire other subject. But I did not get into it because it seemed very complicated, especially since this episode is not about Alexander, and

[Holly Fry]

some accounts frame Alexander as kind of hapless, while others make it sound more like he was basically a con artist who was always getting into some kind of shady scheme. That 1747 pamphlet said that when he went to his execution, he knelt down on the wrong side of the block. When the executioner said that he needed to go to the other side, he replied without emotion that quote, as it was the first experiment he ever made in that way, it was not to be wondered that he should need a little instruction. In her brief biography of Elizabeth Blackwell, Lydia Maria Child wrote, quote, this ill fated man seemed predestined to be unfortunate in all things save his affectionate and excellent wife. He formed various schemes in all of which he was successively disappointed. James Bruce, Author of the 1841 Lives of Eminent Men of Aberdeen, wrote, quote, his life was checkered by turns of prosperity and misfortune. He might have been considered ill fated if that man could be called unhappy that had such a woman to his wife.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We know very little about what happened to Elizabeth in the years after her husband's execution. According to some accounts, she had trained as a midwife before embarking on her herbal, and she may have gone back to that profession. She died in London in 1758 at the age of 59 and was buried in the churchyard of the Chelsea Old Church.

[Holly Fry]

Her herbal continued to be printed and sold in the years after her death and was popular at least to the start of the 19th century. A German language version was published in Nuremberg by Christophe True. Between 1757 and 1773, many, many prominent scientists, physicians and other scholars had copies of the curious herbal in their collections, including Carl Linnaeus and Sir Joseph Banks. Linnaeus reportedly gave Blackwell the nickname Botanica Blackwellia.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Elizabeth Blackwell is the only woman to be included in James Bruce's Lives of Eminent Men of Aberdeen. He said of her herbal quote, a man of a generous mind will feel more pleasure in turning over these two large folios with their hundreds of plates, each one of them bearing the inscription Elizabeth Blackwell Delineyevich sculpts it at Pinkxet than he would in handling an earring of Cleopatra or even a lock of Helen of Troy's hair. That very glowing sentence immediately follows a very long paragraph about how he thought that women should not write books, which we will talk about on Friday.

[Holly Fry]

In her 1846 book Biographies of Good Wives, past podcast subject Lydia Maria Child quoted physician and botanist Richard Pulteney as saying of this book, quote, for the most complete set of drawings of medicinal plants, we are indebted to the genius and industry of a lady exerted on an occasion that redounded highly on her praise.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And that is the other Elizabeth Blackwell than the one who's probably more famous today in the United States at least.

[Holly Fry]

Do you have famous listener mail?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I do. I have listener mail. So this listener mail follows a conversation that Holly and I had about our trip to Morocco and falling asleep on the bus. And I was just involuntarily asleep when we were on that bus and Holly was chagrined at how many people were sleeping cause we were missing a lot of cool stuff, beautiful things. So Mo wrote and said after sort of setting the context. I laughed so much when Tracy talked about how she wanted people to be awake on the bus. When we honeymooned in Ireland, we took the bus a lot. And girl, those buses knocked me out. No matter how much sleep I had the night before or wanted to be awake, I crashed. My dear husband just laughed and told me about what I missed on the drive. Seals. So many ancient buildings, great countryside. We still giggle about it. And we try to avoid buses when we travel. No pets. But for pet tax, here is my sister's three legged kitty Ace and my friend's Frenchie Carl, trying to stow away in her luggage. Thanks for all you do. I absolutely love the show and I'm so behind because I love to binge it. Keep up the good work. Morocco sounded amazing. I hope to take one of these trips with you guys someday. Mo so first this email was so funny to me and I can't remember if I've already said it on the show, but Patrick and I also took a bus day trip when we were in England and the bus, I again was involuntarily asleep. And in this case I think it was a combination of two things. One was that it was very warm even with the air conditioning cranked. We were there during the hottest May in England in the past hundred years.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, they're having a rough summer already.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

They're having a really hard heat wave summer currently, not just in the UK but in other parts of Europe. So even with the air conditioning fully on full blast, it was very warm on the bus. And then I also have a little CO2 monitor in my backpack from back in the days of like returning to travel after Covid started. That is just sort of my little warning of, hey, the ventilation in this space that you're in is terrible and it just lives inside my backpack. And according to that little CO2 monitor, the ventilation also on the bus was terrible. So we were just. There was not enough oxygen and it was too hot. And so. Yeah, and so every time we got on the bus I fell asleep and I did not want to be asleep. I wanted to see the drive out to Stonehenge. I wanted to see the drive to Bath. I wanted to see drive into the Cotswalls. I would say I slept through probably 70% of the bus travel time. So yeah, I I feel you and you're ruined. You're ruined. Irish honeymoon. And then we also have beautiful cat pictures. Oh a black kitty. I love them so much. And then yes, a little Frenchie on top of a suitcase trying to stow away on a trip. Cute baby. So yes, thank you so much Mo. If anybody has tips about staying awake on buses, I honestly I would appreciate them as long as the tips are not take a bunch of stimulants because that's not gonna help me have a good time on the bus.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah. Cause you can't chug coffee the way I can. Is that right?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Not anymore than I will be awake all night and then that will compound the problem the following day on the bus.

[Holly Fry]

No, no, you keep it going.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

You gotta keep steady stream. So yeah, if you would like to send us a Note, we'[e-mail] if you would like to see the show notes to our episode with all of the various sources that we use. That's at our website, which is missedinhistory.com and you can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Holly Fry]

Living with a rare autoimmune condition brings uncertainty, but it can also create community. In season six of Untold Life with a severe autoimmune condition, they go beyond MG and cidp as host Martine Hackett welcomes from other conditions like myositis and Igan into the conversation. Untold Stories is produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Argenex. Listen to Untold Life with a severe Autoimmune condition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Hoda Kotb]

Joy is essential, and it's also elusive. But now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Join Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotbi. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid uplifting and moving on air chats. Open your free iHeartRadio app search Joy101 and listen now. Joy101 with Hoda Kotfi is presented by CBS.

[Mangesha Teegular]

I'm Mangesha Teegular and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talk to the to scientists, biopunks, curmudgeons, Blue zoners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way.

[Michael Rapoport]

I'd say probably start bone smashing.

[Holly Fry]

That doesn't work.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Make it look more defined.

[Michael Rapoport]

They say it works.

[Unidentified Fan or Commentator]

I don't know.

[Mangesha Teegular]

Listen to Skyline Drive how to Live Forever on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Michael Rapoport]

This is Michael Rapoport and my podcast, the I Am Rapoport Stereo podcast is unlike any one you've ever heard. If you're looking for strong opinions about sports, entertainment, politics, pop culture, and whatever else catches my attention, then subscribe now.

[Unidentified Fan or Commentator]

This kid, Jafar Jackson should absolutely, positively get nominated for his portrayal as Michael Jackson.

[Michael Rapoport]

Listen to I Am rapoport on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Chuck (Stuff You Should Know)]

Hey, this is Chuck from Stuff youf Should Know, and we're submitting our most sciency episodes for your peer review with our new Stuff you Should Know. Doing Science playlist out now you want to know about Occam's Razor? The simplest explanation is usually the right one. We got you covered. Wondered what chaos theory is ever since the first time you saw Jurassic Park? Well, come on down. So distill a nice pot of tea, everybody. Turn down the gas on your Bunsen burner and slip into your most comfortable lab coat and listen to the stuff you should know. Doing Science Playlist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.