1681 – The English Physician – Nicholas Culpeper | Early Family Medicine & Herbal

Nicholas Culpeper was a 17th-century English herbalist and physician known for his principal work “The English Physician” – the first herbal printed in North America! This work, which was first published in 1652, contains a plethora of pharmaceutical medicine as well as descriptions of important herbs. Culpeper provides proper preparations for different herbs including anemone, dittany, cottonweed, hemlock, beech-tree, tobacco, rhubarb, onions, garlic, hops, horseradish, mustard, apples, mint, parsnip, wheat, hazelnuts, fennel, oats and parsley, lavender, lettuce, roses, and hundreds more!

Culpeper wanted medical treatments to be more accessible to everyone, including the poor. He intended to educate them on their health and provided explanations of these herbs and their medical, healing properties. Culpeper offers a cure for venereal disease in wormwood and intestinal worms to cure drunkenness! (Adams, p. 17). ‘Heirs of Hippocrates’ makes note of this work:

“In it, Culpeper argues that every physician should be an astrologer and sets for the reasons why medicinal plants and herbs are dependent on the movement of the stars.”

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The English Physitian Enlarged: With Three Hundred, Sixty and Nine Medicines Made of English Herbs That Were Not in Any Impression Until This
• Author(s): Nicholas Culpeper
• Publisher: London, Printed for George Sawbridge
• Edition: Enlarged Edition, 1681.
• Format: (12mo), single volume
• Binding: Full leather
• Size:  7 in x 4.75 in (17.8 cm x 12.1 cm)
• Collation: [14], 285, [19] pp
• Contents Include:
  • Uses of curious ingredients including: hemlock, ox-tongue, and even hemp!
• Reference(s): Adams, Hideous Absinthe; Lowndes 567; Garrison & Morton 1828.1; HoH 322

Condition:

Professionally restored full leather binding with original boards retained. Corners show notable wear. Hinges are firm and intact. All pages are present. The text block shows typical toning and some minor spots consistent with age.

Why Collect This?

• Expanded herbal edition including 369 native plant remedies
• Important record of English folk medicine and planetary healing traditions and superstition

Item Number: # 29557