Catalogus horti botanici Oxoniensis, by Philip Stephens, William Brown, Jacob Bobart (second edition 1658), interleaved with copious manuscript receipts

Catalogus horti botanici Oxoniensis Oxford W. Hall 1658, second edition, interleaved and with copious and wide-ranging early 18th century manuscript medical recipes and notes on the medicinal qualities of various plants. With the interleaved additional pages the volume amounts to some 250 pages, with further notes spilling onto the printed pages.

The compiler (or compilers; the manuscript is chiefly in the same hand but at least one other hand can be identified) of manuscript additions has not been identified, however it is possible to learn quite a lot about him from the entries. He appears to have been a practitioner of medicine, although probably not a qualified doctor, as he details a number of cures which he has effected and reports many more at second hand. Many recipes have been proved by the writer. Some recipes are from printed sources, such as Alexis of Piedmont, Salmon, Digby, 'the learned Boyle', George Bates, Daniel Turner. Turner's The art of surgery... illustrated with many ... cases medico-chirurgical did not appear until 1722, but the preponderance of 17th century authorities, combined with the writer's 'astrological' predilictions (precise times when herbs should be picked in accordance with the phases of the moon, etc.) mark him out as a true Culpeperian. The annotations probably began not so long after the book was published and contined over several decades. The pagination is broken up by the interleavings and some pages are repeated; some pages do not have numbers printed on them.

(Source utilized in the above description: Blackwell Rare Books sale catalogue).

A digitised version of Catalogus horti botanici Oxoniensis, 1658, can be viewed on the electronic resource Early English Books Online.

1658-c.1730

1 volume Volume lacks title, first leaf torn at lower outer margin with loss of half a dozen word or parts of words, some damp staining and other lesser defects. The pagination is somewhat erratic and broken up by the interleavings (which are not paginated or foliated). The printed page numbers are: pp.1-48, 39-70, 70-118, 129-41, 140-188, 193-214. 12mo in eights. Binding is probably original, vellum, darkened and with repair to head of spine.

Purchased by the library at Wellcome Collection from Blackwell Rare Books, Oxford, 08/12/2010.