Folio Archives 176: Culpeper’s Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper 2007
ConversazioniFolio Society Devotees
Iscriviti a LibraryThing per pubblicare un messaggio.
1wcarter
Culpeper’s Herbal, The English Physician, Enlarged by Nicholas Culpeper 2007
Unless you are the sort of person who likes reading dictionaries or telephone books, this is not a book that you read from cover to cover, but one that you dip into from time-to-time to explore the details of a herb, plant or tree that interests you.
Herbals were guides to the use of plants for medicinal purposes, and various herbals had been written and published since medieval times (eg. the Folio Society Limited Edition Tractatus de Herbis). Culpeper’s was different to the others in that it was not illustrated and cost a very reasonable three pence. It was first published in 1639 and was an instant success.
The herbal has a strong overlay of astrology, with each plant being assigned to one of the spheres (Venus, Mars, Saturn etc.) depending on its properties. Each is described, its likely place of growth explained, the time of year when it should be harvested and its medicinal uses listed. All seem to have a multiplicity of disconnected and diverse effects.
Culpeper was later convicted of witchcraft and this ended his medical career. He never recovered from this financially or socially and wasted away to die at the age of 36.
The Folio Society edition is an enlargement of the original book and is illustrated with numerous full-page beautiful paintings by Elizabet Blackwell from another herbal (Curious Herbal) published a century later in 1737. These are placed beside the relevant written entry.
The book has xvii + 361 pages and is introduced by Richard Mabey. The endpapers and slipcase (27.2x20.1cm.) are plain dark red. It is bound in green cloth, blocked on cover and spine with a gilt pattern and a red title label.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
Unless you are the sort of person who likes reading dictionaries or telephone books, this is not a book that you read from cover to cover, but one that you dip into from time-to-time to explore the details of a herb, plant or tree that interests you.
Herbals were guides to the use of plants for medicinal purposes, and various herbals had been written and published since medieval times (eg. the Folio Society Limited Edition Tractatus de Herbis). Culpeper’s was different to the others in that it was not illustrated and cost a very reasonable three pence. It was first published in 1639 and was an instant success.
The herbal has a strong overlay of astrology, with each plant being assigned to one of the spheres (Venus, Mars, Saturn etc.) depending on its properties. Each is described, its likely place of growth explained, the time of year when it should be harvested and its medicinal uses listed. All seem to have a multiplicity of disconnected and diverse effects.
Culpeper was later convicted of witchcraft and this ended his medical career. He never recovered from this financially or socially and wasted away to die at the age of 36.
The Folio Society edition is an enlargement of the original book and is illustrated with numerous full-page beautiful paintings by Elizabet Blackwell from another herbal (Curious Herbal) published a century later in 1737. These are placed beside the relevant written entry.
The book has xvii + 361 pages and is introduced by Richard Mabey. The endpapers and slipcase (27.2x20.1cm.) are plain dark red. It is bound in green cloth, blocked on cover and spine with a gilt pattern and a red title label.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
