Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

Further adorned by the studies and collections of the fellows now living, of the said colledg. being that book by which all apothecaries are bound to make up all the medicines in their shops. in which is printed, i. the vertues, qualities, and properties of every simple. ii. the vertues and use of the compounds. iii. cautions in giving all medicines that are dangerous. iv. all the medicines that were in the old latin dspensatory, and are left out of the new latin one, are printed in this impression in english, with their vertues v.a key to galen's method of physick, containing 33 chapters vi. the latin name of every one of the compounds, and in what page of the new folio latin book they are to be found. by nich. culpeper, gent. student in physick and astrology. in this impression, 1661. there is added, to the compounds, many vertues and use's more than ever were in any former impression. by divers learned and able doctors of physick, viz. w.r. a.c. j.w. and, by abdiah cole, doctor of physick, and the liberal arts; who hath practiced physick forty nine years, and lived above thirty years, out of his own country; and hath seen the practice of france, italy, germany, turkey, and the indies.

Item Description

folio 11 x 7.25 inches.[xvi] + 1-38 + 101 pp. + [26] pp. Main text in triple columns. Includes indexes at end. Bound in contemporary half brown leather, gilt over marbled boards; spine in compartments with raised bands and gilt titles. Scattered foxing and slight age related wear; otherwise a very good crisp copy. 1860 and 1944 signatures on first free endpaper. Decorated by headpiece vignettes and by initial. Nicholas Culpeper's (1616-1654) unofficial translation of the London Pharmacopoeia of 1618, entitled A Physical Directory, (1649) was a direct attack on the authority of the College of Physicians. Through the publication of an official pharmacopoeia, the College of Physicians sought to control and regulate the practice of the Apothecaries, who were obliged to use it to make up prescriptions for the licensed physicians. Culpeper's translation made it a medium for the liberalisation of medicine. By publishing in English, Culpeper not only made the prescriptions available to the non-Latin readers, but also made the official use much safer because many of the Apothecaries themselves did not read Latin. Culpeper considerably improved on the original by clarifying the preparations and adding much additional material, forming the basis for his 'English Physician' of 1652, otherwise known as 'Culpeper's Herbal', the most popular of all English herbals. In 1653, Culpeper published a reworked version of A Physical Directory under the London Dispensatory title. It was a translation of the second edition of the College's Pharmacopoeia of 1650 but included many of his own additions. It was reprinted, including this 1661 edition, fourteen times before 1718. Culpeper has only relatively recently been rehabilitated from 'vituperative quack' and founder of the modern cult of herbalism, to a figure of outstanding importance who had a far greater influence on medical practice in England between 1650 and 1750 than either Harvey or Sydenham. [Poynter, Sanderson, and Woolley.].