Jessie Wei-Hsuan Chen

Can historians benefit from creative works for historical research? In this @hsnatsci.bsky.social short piece, I share how I worked w/ different types of making to research and write my recent book on 17th-c. florilegia. Thank you @dominikhhh.bsky.social & @mbaldwin.bsky.social for the invitation!

I'm working on an article about early microscopic observations of ferns and the resulting images. Taking the opportunity, the core team of #VisualizingtheUnknown returned to the Museum Boerhaave yesterday for a MicroLab to observe fern sporangia and spores through early modern microscopes together!

Het natuurtijdschrift Roots herdrukt in 2026 in ieder nummer—in een serie van 10— één plant uit de Flora Batava (2023), bewerkt door Esther van Gelder en Norbert Peeters. Januari belicht mijn vertelling over de wilde narcis en bloemenkleur!

Volume 10 (yes 10!!!) of our book series “Emergence of Natural History” @degruyterbrill.bsky.social @dgb-history.bsky.social is out #OpenAccess : @dvantrijp.bsky.social ‘s fascinating history of #fish studies / #Ichthyology
Congratulations, Didi!
#HistNatHist #HistSTM
brill.com/display/titl...

Our Knowledge and Art Practices group had a blast and lots of interesting conversations on historical inks, pigments, and paints this morning. So nice to get back to these materials!

Flyer for the book presentation, with the text reads as the following. Left-hand side: Book Presentation, 3 December 2025, KB, National Library, Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5, The Hague Right-hand side: Programme 14:00 Walk-in 14:30 Welcome and opening, Esther van Gelder (KB, nationale bibliotheek), Editors of series Emergence of Natural History and De Gruyter Brill. 14:50 Book presentation, Jessie Wei-Hsuan Chen (Huygens Instituut/KNAW). 15:10 Gifting of physical copies 15:15 Panel discussion: State of the field(s) and practical knowledge Moderator: Marieke Hendriksen (Huygens Instituut/KNAW) Panelists: Marlise Rijks (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Sietske Fransen (Bibliotheca Hertziana/Max Planck Institute), Trude Dijkstra (Universiteit van Amsterdam), Jessie Wei-Hsuan Chen (Huygens Instituut/KNAW). 16:00 Introduction to pop-up show. Display of reconstructions and creative projects related to the book. 16:15 Drinks / Borrel, Opportunity to see the pop-up show and book table featuring volumes from the Emergence of Natural History series. 17:00 End of event Free admission with limited space. Please register at https://tickets.kb.nl/nl-NL/Show/Details/Book-presentation- Everlasting-Flower-Between-the-Pages--3-dec-134063. Link to book: https://brill.com/display/title/70483

Photograph of almost two hundred sheets of paper with dots painted with many colours.

Photograph of an arrangement of, in clockwise order, a colour sample book, a watercolour of a tulip bouquet on paper, an album of monochromatic flower pictures, and a watercolour on parchment that shows several kinds of colourful flowers and the used colour palette on a separate piece of parchment.

Photograph of an arrangement of objects, including a box, two trays from the box, the spread of colour swatches from one of the volumes in the collection, colour tests from the process book, and a watercolour of two purple autumn crocuses displayed on a book stand.

Join us in The Hague on 3 December for my book presentation! 🌷🌻🌵

Look forward to sharing some findings, an exciting panel on practical knowledge with amazing colleagues, and a pop-up show on reconstructions/creative works from the project.

Register: tickets.kb.nl/nl-NL/Show/D...

See you there! 🌺

🎁 It's that time of year – the holidays are just around the corner! Whether you're looking for gifts or want to treat yourself, take advantage of our #HolidaySale and get 40% off our #books and #eBooks! Offer valid through Dec 11.

Start browsing now: 🔗 marketing.degruyterbrill.com/DGB_Sale_EN?...

My special issue on gardens and plants as laboratories of premodern science is out on @royalsocietypublishing.org #notesandrecords #nrrs #histplants #histsci #vegscilif #envhist with articles by me, Luzzini on minerals, @johedesan.bsky.social on Guy de La Brosse, Jalobeanu on Bacon, and Benharrech🌱

Congratulations, Luiza!

wrapping my presentation for this beautiful seminar at @bhmpi.bsky.social on Thursday morning (Rome time)🌿
#plantstudies #botany #premodernscience #histsci #arthistory 🌱

Do images have an epistemic role in botanical science?

Same here!

That looks fun! Would indeed like to learn more about it.

Same here!

The Role of Images in Early Modern Botany This seminar brings together two experts on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century plants. Zooming in on the dilemma of visualizing plants (or not), and how images could become part of epistemic methods w...

Join us in Rome or online for a seminar on plant illustrations on 6 November! 🪴🌻🌿

Through images of mandrakes and ferns, @fabribald.bsky.social and I will be discussing issues in the role of images in early modern botany.

www.biblhertz.it/events/43483...

Thank you, Sarah! I learned a lot from your work for my own reconstructions!

Your parchments were super helpful for the writing of this book!

Thank you, Sara!

It was such a positive experience working with @dominikhhh.bsky.social and @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. So honored to be part of the series Emergence of Natural History. Thank you for all the support in getting this book published!

Printed copies of Everlasting Flowers are gorgeous! But the digital version is #openaccess for anyone to read: brill.com/display/titl....

A book presentation takes place at the KB in The Hague on 3 December. You are warmly invited! To register: tickets.kb.nl/nl-NL/Show/D...

Please share!

Book cover with a dark green floral patterned background. Title: “Everlasting Flowers between the Pages: The Making of Seventeenth-Century Florilegia” by Jessie Wei-Hsuan Chen, published by Brill in the series “Emergence of Natural History 9.” The cover illustration shows several varieties of red and pink anemones, taken from Franciscus de Geest’s Jardin de rares et curieux fleurs, second half of the seventeenth century (Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, VA).

As autumn sets in, take a look at flowers that bloom forever
🌸🍂
In this new illustrated #openaccess book @jessiewhchen.bsky.social approaches 17th-c. florilegia as material objects reflecting the diverse plant knowledge of gardeners, compilers & image-makers!

brill.com/display/titl...

#EarlyModern

Thank you Laura!

Thank you Luiza!

Thank you, Maura!

Thank you, Yun!

Thank you Sarah!

Thank you, Trude!

Everlasting Flowers between the Pages "Everlasting Flowers between the Pages" published on 28 Aug 2025 by Brill.

Surprise publication day! Earlier than anticipated, you can now read my #firstbook (digital version in #openaccess) or order a printed copy through the link. Official announcement and info on book presentation event coming soon!

brill.com/display/titl...

#NatHist, #HistNatHist, #flowers

It was really interesting and addicting! I want to make more!

Photo of the author pulling a cane from a white glass rod in front of a torch.

Photo of five pieces of mung bean sprouts made of glass. One is in clear glass, two have translucent white stems and light yellow embryos, and two have translucent white stems and green embryos.

I found a unique lampworking workshop where I learned how to make mung bean sprouts when visiting family in Taiwan last month. These are not skilled glasswork, but I have made my first models of economic botany of some sort! With a bonus clear sprout for further experimentation with glass painting.

Fascinating! This reminds me of other aesthetic borders in seventeenth-century albums that also have an amalgamation of (copied) images, albeit done very differently.