Tour: A History of Herbals

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The medicinal benefits of many plants were well known to ancient Greek, Roman and Middle-Eastern physicians and over the course of subsequent millennia, the plant-based treatments they recommended were continually repeated and refined. Knowledge was passed down through the generations – by word-of-mouth, in handwritten manuscripts and later through printed encyclopaedias. These publications, known as ‘herbals’, contained detailed descriptions of plants and set out their many different uses. They are fascinating volumes that reveal a range of surprising applications.

The RHS Lindley Library collections include herbals dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries by leading practitioners and authors including Leonhard Fuchs, Hieronymus Bock, John Gerard and Nicholas Culpeper. This tour will include a curator’s introduction to the exhibition ‘Healing Garden’ and the chance to see original herbals from the library’s rare books collection.

Image: Illustrations from Nicholas Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, 1653 © Lindley Collections

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