Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654) wrote his herbal in English for ordinary households, and he gave every plant a ruling planet. The planet decided which illnesses a plant could treat and even when it should be picked. Herbs of the Sun, the book advises, are to be gathered on Sundays.
This is the 1792 London edition, “medicinally and astrologically arranged, after the manner of Culpeper” by the physician Joshua Hamilton, who enlarged it with several hundred plants taken mainly from Sir John Hill. Every entry describes the plant, where it grows and when it flowers, and closes with a paragraph headed Government and Virtues that names its planet. Comfrey is “an herb of Saturn under the sign Capricorn.” Venus owns Nipplewort.
The plates show two or three related plants, or a single one, with their Latin and English names, many with small studies of the flower, engraved in fine line. Henbane gets one of the book’s more combative paragraphs. Culpeper scolds the astrologers who gave it to Jupiter, for “the herb is indeed under the dominion of Saturn, and I prove it by this argument.” Choose a plate from the menu; where the book names a ruling planet, it is given beside the name. Each plate is one of a kind, and the photograph for each option shows the actual plate you will receive.
About our leaves. We sell leaves only from books that came to us already incomplete or damaged beyond reasonable restoration. We never break a complete copy. Each source book is an edition that survives in multiple copies in public collections. Anything of evidential value, such as a notable binding, an inscription or annotations, stays intact. We record the whole copy before it is dispersed. Where there is any doubt whether a book meets these standards, we consult an outside senior bookseller or conservator before proceeding.
Source of these leaves: Nicholas Culpeper and Joshua Hamilton, Culpeper’s English Family Physician, vol. 1, London: W. Locke, 1792 (ESTC T136362), an odd first volume without its second, disbound with the binding split and heavily foxed.
CULPEPER, Nicholas (1616–1654), and Joshua HAMILTON. Culpeper’s English Family Physician; or, Medical Herbal Enlarged, with Several Hundred Additional Plants, Principally from Sir John Hill... Medicinally and Astrologically Arranged, after the Manner of Culpeper. London: Printed for W. Locke, 1792. Volume 1, here dispersed as individual leaves. Octavo.
Physical Description: A single engraved plate, octavo, 21 x 13 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/8 in.).
Binding: None; disbound leaf.
Condition: Uncolored engraving. Foxing, age-toning and light soiling, heavier on some plates than others; some plates trimmed close; a few show faint offset from the facing text; edges with small chips and short tears. Each option is photographed as it is.
Shipping: Each plate ships in an archival sleeve.
Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654) wrote his herbal in English for ordinary households, and he gave every plant a ruling planet. The planet decided which illnesses a plant could treat and even when it should be picked. Herbs of the Sun, the book advises, are to be gathered on Sundays.
This is the 1792 London edition, “medicinally and astrologically arranged, after the manner of Culpeper” by the physician Joshua Hamilton, who enlarged it with several hundred plants taken mainly from Sir John Hill. Every entry describes the plant, where it grows and when it flowers, and closes with a paragraph headed Government and Virtues that names its planet. Comfrey is “an herb of Saturn under the sign Capricorn.” Venus owns Nipplewort.
The plates show two or three related plants, or a single one, with their Latin and English names, many with small studies of the flower, engraved in fine line. Henbane gets one of the book’s more combative paragraphs. Culpeper scolds the astrologers who gave it to Jupiter, for “the herb is indeed under the dominion of Saturn, and I prove it by this argument.” Choose a plate from the menu; where the book names a ruling planet, it is given beside the name. Each plate is one of a kind, and the photograph for each option shows the actual plate you will receive.
About our leaves. We sell leaves only from books that came to us already incomplete or damaged beyond reasonable restoration. We never break a complete copy. Each source book is an edition that survives in multiple copies in public collections. Anything of evidential value, such as a notable binding, an inscription or annotations, stays intact. We record the whole copy before it is dispersed. Where there is any doubt whether a book meets these standards, we consult an outside senior bookseller or conservator before proceeding.
Source of these leaves: Nicholas Culpeper and Joshua Hamilton, Culpeper’s English Family Physician, vol. 1, London: W. Locke, 1792 (ESTC T136362), an odd first volume without its second, disbound with the binding split and heavily foxed.
CULPEPER, Nicholas (1616–1654), and Joshua HAMILTON. Culpeper’s English Family Physician; or, Medical Herbal Enlarged, with Several Hundred Additional Plants, Principally from Sir John Hill... Medicinally and Astrologically Arranged, after the Manner of Culpeper. London: Printed for W. Locke, 1792. Volume 1, here dispersed as individual leaves. Octavo.
Physical Description: A single engraved plate, octavo, 21 x 13 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/8 in.).
Binding: None; disbound leaf.
Condition: Uncolored engraving. Foxing, age-toning and light soiling, heavier on some plates than others; some plates trimmed close; a few show faint offset from the facing text; edges with small chips and short tears. Each option is photographed as it is.
Shipping: Each plate ships in an archival sleeve.
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