- 347
Culpeper, Nicholas
Estimate
4,000 - 5,000 GBP
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Description
- Culpeper, Nicholas
- The English Physitian: or an Astrologo-Physical Discourse of the Vulgar Herbs of this Nation. London: Peter Cole, 1652
- Paper
folio (266 x 170mm.), engraved portrait frontispiece, contemporary sheep, title slightly frayed at foot, 2G torn in margin with loss to side-note, binding rebacked and repaired
Literature
ESTC R24897 (locates 5 copies in the UK, 7 in the US); Wing C7501; Henrey 53 and pp 82-88; Norman 541; see Poynter, “Nicholas Culpeper and his books”, Journal of the History of Medicine 17: 152-67
Condition
Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
The extremely rare first edition of Culpeper’s Herbal, the most famous, influential, and frequently reprinted herbal ever published. It has hardly been out of print since its first appearance above, and over one hundred editions are recorded.
Culpeper was in fact quite a radical figure in the seventeenth-century English medical world. He felt that the poor were being exploited, and their health abused, by a Latin pharmacopoeia based upon foreign plants, accessible only to the physicians and pharmacists who maximised their profits thereby. Culpeper decided to provide recipes written in English and based upon the English flora, so that ordinary people could treat their own illnesses with remedies at hand.