Culpeper's Complete Herbal, Nicholas Culpeper — 1815 Edition

Publication: London, Richard Evans, 1815

Formatting: 4to, pp. vi, 398, [4].

Condition Report: Fair. The book is bound in its original full calf, which has suffered heavy wear over the centuries, consistent with a frequently consulted household manual. The boards exhibit significant dark staining, heavy rubbing, and scuffing, though a blackened decorative border roll remains visible along the perimeters. The corners are severely bumped with the underlying board exposed, and the board edges are frayed. The spine is highly deteriorated, presenting with severe chipping and loss of leather to both the head and tail, alongside deep cracking and dryness. The joints are visibly split and tender, rendering the binding fragile, though the text block appears to hold together. Internally, plain teal endpapers mark the hinges. The frontispiece and title page are intact but display notable age-toning, marginal browning, and minor scattered foxing and edge wear.

Catalogue Note: This 1815 printing of Culpeper's Complete Herbal, published by Richard Evans in London, is a notable 19th-century reissue of the legendary 17th-century herbalist's magnum opus. Printed by J. Haddon of Tabernacle Walk, this exhaustive volume compiles the Complete Herbal alongside the English Physician Enlarged and the Family Dispensatory, creating an ultimate compendium for diagnosing and treating ailments using native English flora.

The book features a finely engraved oval portrait frontispiece of Culpeper, bordered by his title "Author of the Family Herbal" and positioned above an engraved coat of arms and a globe. While this edition was famously issued with hand-coloured plates illustrating over four hundred plants, it is the comprehensive textual guidance, detailing the astrological and medicinal virtues of herbs, that made it a staple in domestic life. Given its status as a heavily referenced working manual for household healthcare, surviving copies in their original contemporary bindings are increasingly scarce on the open market, as most were handled to the point of destruction or have since been entirely rebound. 

Nicholas Culpeper’s Complete Herbal remains one of the most historically significant and enduring texts in the realms of alternative medicine, botany, and astrology. First published in the mid-17th century, Culpeper radically broke away from the secretive, Latin-dominated medical establishment by cataloguing the healing properties of everyday plants in the English vernacular, effectively democratizing healthcare for the common person. This expansive 1815 compendium not only details the physical and occult benefits of hundreds of herbs but includes his English Physician and Family Dispensatory, offering a captivating and immersive glimpse into historic apothecarial practices, natural remedies, and the realities of Regency-era home medicine.