Succrotrine Aloe, Medicinal Plant, 1737
A Curious Herbal, Plate 333. The aloe appears in Egyptian carvings and was used by the Ancient Greeks to heal wounds. The juice of its fleshy leaves is still used externally for burns, scrapes, and sunburn. Aloe is a genus containing over 500 species of flowering succulent plants in the family Xanthorrhoeaceae, subfamily Asphodeloideae. The most widely known species is Aloe vera, or "true aloe", so called because, though probably extinct in the wild, it is cultivated as the standard source for assorted pharmaceutical purposes. Elizabeth Blackwell (1707-1758) was a famed Scottish illustrator and author who was best known as both the artist and engraver for the plates of "A Curious Herbal" (1737). A herbal is a book of plants, describing their appearance, their properties and how they may be used for preparing ointments and medicines. The book is notable both for its beautiful illustrations of medicinal plants and for the unusual circumstances of its creation. Blackwell undertook the project to raise money to pay her husband's debts and release him from debtor's prison. She drew, engraved, and colored the illustrations herself, mostly using plant specimens from the Chelsea Physic Garden in London. It was an artistic, scientific and commercial enterprise unprecedented for a woman of her time. Little is known of her later years. She died in 1758, at the age of 50 or 51. She remained loyal to Alexander throughout, even sharing royalties with him from the sale of additional book rights.
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