Veratrum viride

Plants, Medicinal

Plants, Toxic

Veratrum

Book Illustrations

Engraved by Annin and Smith from a drawing by Jacob Bigelow(?).

Colored engraving of leaf and flowers of Veratrum viride or American Hellebore (Figure 1) with a "Petal magnified" (Figure 2), "Stamens" (Figure 3), "Pistils" (Figure 4), Capsule (Figure 5), "Section of the capsule, showing the seeds (Figure 6), and "A seed" (Figure 7).

Annin & Smith

Bigelow, Jacob, 1786-1879

Original image in: Bigelow, Jacob, 1786-1879. American Medical Botany (Boston: Cummings and Hilliard, 1817-1820). Qx 116 (Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia)

American Medical Botany was intended for the public and offered descriptions of each depicted plant’s botanical history, chemical analysis, and medical uses. It was the only book published in the United States prior to the introduction of chromolithography to have its plates mechanically printed in color. Bigelow initially planned to use hand colored copperplate engravings but, when this proved be too ambitious, turned to aquatint plates printed in colors à la poupée, with some finished by hand.

Digitized by the Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

1817

lat

StillImage

Qx_116.pl33

1 print : engraving, color

24 x 15 cm