I would love love LOVE to be involved in a History & Herbarium cross-disciplinary project. There are so many ways that @UniRdg_History and @RNGherb could benefit one another! ❤️ https://t.co/kKB5X4TAiZ
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) August 14, 2020
Tag: twitter
Of the Goose-tree
John Gerard included a page and a half, plus this woodcut, on the Goose Tree in his 1597 Herball. Perhaps more remarkably, Thomas Johnson – who comprehensively corrected Gerard's work – chose to keep it in both the 1633 and 1636 editions, despite knowing it was nonsense! https://t.co/HK6J8ersHt pic.twitter.com/f0Gdnw0Ivt
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) August 11, 2020
Phenomenal labour
Still feeling absolutely rotten. Reading Gerard is cheering me up, although it's not really a reading-in-bed kind of book. It's so heavy, I can't feel my knees! pic.twitter.com/zJkNdoTe5H
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) July 31, 2020
(Click through to read the thread)
Gerard!
This is my VERY EXCITED FACE.*
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) July 2, 2020
While perusing extant copies of Gerard (£1,750 to £14,000 depending on the edition and how many pages are missing!) I stumbled on a full size complete facsimile of the 1633 2nd edition for £50. It weighs A TON, but I'm so happy to have found it! 😍 pic.twitter.com/7xRZ8GHIXt
“Son of a blacksmith”
I made it to page seven of Flower Hunters before my brain went off on an angry tangent about John Ray (Historia Plantarum, 1686) being described everywhere as 'the son of a blacksmith', when HIS MOTHER WAS A HERBALIST!! (See also Culpeper… and goodness knows who else!) 🤯🤯🤯
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) July 1, 2020
Not yet a blog post…
Reading the foreword to a 1983 edition of Culpeper is making me want to throw things. Apparently the Doctrine of Signatures "had probably not spread to England by the beginning of the 17th century" – NOPE. It was well established, but Culpeper didn't subscribe.
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) June 29, 2020
Click through to read the thread
NatSCA lockdown blog
Guess who wrote today's @Nat_SCA blog post… 😀 https://t.co/nVqc5piU9m
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) June 18, 2020
No escape
Picked up a book that I thought would have nothing to do with my dissertation. I'm only on page four, and I've already encountered the Tradescants, Francis Bacon, Elias Ashmole, Hans Sloane, Pliny the Elder, Ulisse Aldrovandi and Guillaume Rondelet. There's no escape! 😂🤦
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) June 9, 2020
I wonder…?
Ooh. I wonder whether a version of this has been done for the wood blocks in herbals? I have an article about Plantin's botanical blocks, but there are lots of others… 🤓 https://t.co/ExQViPfYQJ
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) March 28, 2020
Missing out
Just had a seminar via Zoom, and Powerpoint slides with commentary, which was EXCELLENT. (Thank you Rachel!)
— Claire Smith (@eternalmagpie) March 26, 2020
I could have come back to Uni 10 years ago if this tech had been available while I was too sick to leave the house every day. So many disabled people are missing out. 😢