Not so good on practical herbal advice, but great for historical information or astrological associations (I can see fiction writers using this book as a reference). The modern annotations don't do a complete job of confirming or refuting Culpeper's recommendations.

However, I appreciated the introductory note about Culpeper being dedicated to bringing medicinal knowledge to the masses, as is solidified by passages throughout. I adored Culpeper's personality throughout his descriptions, between his insistence that the rich look out for the poor and his scathing rants about such things as common herbal naming conventions. I never thought an herbal dictionary would be so entertaining.

It's also a very pretty edition. ( )

great ( )

This lovely reprint of the 1814 London Edition of Culpeper's Complete Herbal was first published in the US in July 1944 (from the description in the front of the book). It's a beautiful book, and although I doubt I'd use the medical advice in the book, the descriptions on how to save and preserve various herbs, and the sketches of plants and leaves, are still useful. ( )

I really don't buy that bit about the rabbit's liver, but the book itself should be an interesting reference. ( )

This is a reprint of at least part of Dr. Nicholas Culpeper's herbal writings, written at some point before his death in 1654, but possibly published later (the book doesn't give a date). Every remedy has a brief description of the plant, a little illustration of the plant (I'm not sure if that's original to the book or just part of this reprint), and a description of its uses and astrological tie-ins. This edition also includes "modern" (as of 1979) herbal uses of these plants. ( )