ipts, which could be kept as scrolls or loose sheets, or bound into codices.[13] Early handwritten herbals were often illustrated with paintings and drawings. Like other manuscript books, herbals were "published" through repeated copying by hand, either by professional scribes or by the readers themselves. In the process of making a copy, the copyist would often translate, expand, adapt, or reorder the content. Most of the original herbals have been lost; many have survived only as later copies (of copies...), and others are known only through references from other texts.[14][15]
As printing became available, it was promptly used to publish herbals, the first printed matter being known as incunabula. In Europe, the first printed herbal with woodcut (xylograph) illustrations, the Puch der Natur of Konrad of Megenberg, appeared in 1475.[16] Metal-engraved plates were first used in about 1580.[17] As woodcuts and metal engravings could be reproduced indefinitely they were traded among printers: there was therefore a large increase in the number of illustrations together with an improvement in quality and detail but a tendency for repetition.[18]
As examples of some of the world's most important records and first printed matter, researchers will find herbals scattered through the world's most famous libraries including the Vatican Library in Rome, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, the Royal Library in Windsor, the British Library in London and the major continental libraries.
China, India, Mexico[edit]
Shennong pen Ts’ao ching of China[edit]
Further information: Chinese herbology and Chinese Herbal Medicine
China is renowned for its traditional herbal medicine that date back thousands of years.[19][20] Legend has it that Emperor Shennong, the founder of Chinese herbal medicine, composed the Shennong pen Ts’ao ching or Great Herbal in about 2700 BCE as the forerunner of all later Chinese herbals.[21] It survives as a copy made c. 500 CE and describes about 365 herbs.[22] High quality herbals and monographs on particular plants were produced in the period to 1250 CE including: the Chen Lei Pen Ts’ao written by T’Ang Shenwei in 1108, which passed through twelve editions until 1600; a monograph on the lychee by Ts’ai Hsiang in 1059 and one on the oranges of Wen-Chou by Han Yen-Chih in 1178.[23] In 1406 Chou Wang Hsiao published the herbal Chiu Huang Pen Ts'ao. It contained high quality woodcuts and descriptions of 414 species of plants of which 276 were described for the first time, the book pre-dating the first European printed book by 69 years. It was reprinted many times.[24] Other herbals include Pen Ts'ao Fa Hui in 1450 by Hsu Yung and Pen Ts'ao Kangmu of Li Shi Chen in 1590.[25]
Sushruta Samhita of India[edit]
Further information: Sushruta Samhita and Ayurveda
Traditional herbal medicine of India, known as Ayurveda, possibly dates back to the second millennium BCE tracing its origins to the holy Hindu Vedas and, in particular, the Atharvaveda.[26] One authentic compilation of teachings is by the surgeon Sushruta, available in a treatise called Sushruta Samhita. This contains 184 chapters and description of 1120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources.[27] Other early works of Ayurveda include the Charaka Samhita, attributed to Charaka. This tradition, however is mostly oral. The earliest surviving written material which contains the works of Sushruta is the Bower Manuscript—dated to the 4th century CE.[28]
Hernandez - Rerum Medicarum and the Aztecs[edit]
An illustrated herbal published in Mexico in 1552, Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis ("Book of Medicinal Herbs of the Indies"), is written in the Aztec Nauhuatl language by
