Plants: Cultivators of Curiosity - Exhibit Case 4

Returning to the realm of published works, in Case 4 we highlight a beautiful early 19th century book with hand-colored illustrations:

Culpeper’s Complete Herbal

Culpeper, Nicholas

1816

Call #: Rare Book RS81 .C9 1816

This book, published in London in 1816, is one of many editions of a work originally created by Nicholas Culpeper in 1653.  It is a complete herbal guide to curing ailments, both minor and severe.  Using a variety of approaches that take into consideration astrology, religion, and botany, this guide serves to offer a plant-based approach to medicine during a time when such methods were quite common.

The frontispiece and title page seen above are not from Augustana's copy of Culpeper's Complete Herbal, but from another copy of the same edition owned by Harvard University that has been digitized and made available through the Hathi Trust. You can view the entire book at https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011634382.