Introduction
Herbs have been the source of pharmacology, cookery, and materia magica
since the beginning of human history. The importance of herbs for healing
cannot be underestimated. For centuries, dating back to Dioscorides (fl.
1st century C.E.), the knowledge of botany was considered to be something
almost sacred. Doctors who used these herbs held life, the most precious
thing, in their hands. To be properly educated in recognizing and understanding
valuable herbs was one of the most important skills an individual could
develop. Traveling far and long looking for a specific herb would not
have been easy. Someone would want to be exactly sure what it was one
was looking for, and these herbal volumes would have provided a great
source for an herbalist or a doctor. Many of the herbal texts are so detailed
in their explanation of the physical appearance of the herbs, a layman
would be able to recognize the herbs being described. With beautiful woodcuts,
etchings, and engravings, some of which were even hand colored, the herbs
described would have been even more recognizable to an illiterate person.
Though the common person probably would not have owned these valuable
and expensive herbal volumes, herbs would not have played any less of
a part in their life. As well as their healing values, they would have
been used in cooking and magical spells. Household manuals such as the
Wolfsthurn manual, which Richard Kieckhefer examines in his book
Magic in the Middle Ages, would have provided instruction for
basic herbal remedies, recipes, and magical spells. These herbal volumes
provide today’s reader with insight into the medical and botanical
knowledge of the times in which the books were written.
These herbals may also stimulate a broad range of scholarship in a variety
of different fields. They are a great source for the contemporary botanist
interested in studying the history of botany as well as students interested
in the history of science or understanding the treatment of a particular
ailment and how it was treated throughout history.
Methodology
This herbal annotated bibliography is organized in two parts. The first
part lists original herbal texts, while the second is comprised of facsimiles
and books of herbals. The entire bibliography consists of sixty-seven
volumes which range in date from the fifteenth through twentieth centuries.
Within the two sections, each entry is organized in alphabetical order
by authors’ last names. Additional cataloging information is included
above a description of the book. Included in the description are physical
elements of the book such as information on illustrations the binding
as well as existing indices and marginalia.
San Diego State University is fortunate to have had the majority of its
herbals donated to the library by Amy Josephine Wormser in 1983, however,
other donors of herbal volumes will not go unrecognized, as the provenance
of each book has been included. This herbal bibliography has been crafted
for the convenience of students and scholars throughout the world.
San Diego State University’s herbal volumes are some of the most
aesthetically impressive rare books available to the scholar. Herbals,
because of the treasured knowledge they held, were some of the most elaborately
bound books of their time and are worth the time to just admire. Valued
across the centuries, herbs truly were, as Charlemagne remarked, “The
friend of physicians and the praise of cooks.”
Works Cited
Throughout the process of creating this herbal annotated bibliography
a number of references have been used, including:
Arber, Agnes. Herbals Their Origin and Evolution: A Chapter in the
History of Botany 1470-1670. Cambridge, UK: The University Press,
1938.
Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Charles Coulston Gillispie, editor-in-
Chief. Vols. 1, 4. New York NY: Scribner [1970-1980].
The Dictionary of National Biography: Founded in 1882 by George Smith;
Edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee; from the earliest
times to 1900. Vols. 5, 9, 13, 14, 19. London, UK: Oxford University
Press, 1959-60.
Gascoigne, Robert Mortimer. A Historical Catalogue of Scientists
and Scientific Books:From the Earliest Times to the Close of the Nineteenth
Century. New York, NY: Garland Pub., 1984.
Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. New York, NY: Cambridge
University Press, 1990.
Nouvelle Biographie Générale Depuis les Temps les Plus
Reculés Jusqu'à
1850-60. Vol. 11. Copenhague: Rosenkilde et Bagger, 1963-69.
Online Biography Created by Edo Williams & Jossie
Chavez
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