What happens when three world-renowned herbalists combine their collections of rare botanical books and make them freely available to the public? In World Herb Librarythis is it!
With a vast archive of over 3,000 volumes, some dating back to the 1500s, and covering everything from plant pharmacology to cultivation and extraction methods, the Library offers a wealth of historical knowledge about medicinal and culinary herbs. three people arranged with love who have devoted their lives to the study and practice of botanical medicine.
This project came to life with 4 attemptsth descendant of herbalist Christopher Hobbs, PhD, LAc, phytopharmaceutical consultant Robert Brucia and HerbPharm founder Ed Smith. These three men, all well-known experts in the field, realized that public interest in herbs was at an all-time high these days, and they wanted to make their unique books, along with their knowledge and insight, available to as many people as possible. Overall, the World Herb Library is the largest online collection of herbal texts in the English language.
All books in this archive can be viewed as key-searchable PDF files, which include the cover and original book images, many of which are very beautiful. The texts are presented exactly as they were published, without editing or “modernization”. Although the collection is weighted towards European and North American botanical medicine, it contains extensive subsets of references on Ayurvedaand Native American medicinemany of them very rare, along with some volumes on Middle Eastern medicine.
The World Library of Herbs is filled with fascinating curiosities, some of which date back to ancient history. There is The book of natureone of the first attempts at an encyclopedia of natural history, authored by the Bavarian scholar Konrad von Megenberg in the mid-14th century. This book is one of the first important scientific works written in German.
There is
Herbal or general history of plantscompiled by the English herbalist John Gérarde and first published in 1597 (the display version is from 1636). Gérarde maintained a large botanic garden at Holburn, and his book was a popular gardening guide in its day, with an extensive section on plants used for medicine, food, and fragrance.
In Cliffortian Park is a work written in 1737 by Carl Linnaeus who invented the Latin binomial taxonomy system still in use today – with illustrations by Georg Dionysius Ereth. This vast collection was commissioned by Amsterdam banker George Clifford III, whose sprawling garden in Hartekam, Netherlands was one of the largest and most diverse in Europe at the time.
It exists for lovers of literature Shakespeare’s Wild Flowersa 1935 collection by Eleanor Sinclair Rohde that provides detailed explanations (including beautiful color illustrations) of plants mentioned by Shakespeare in his extensive works.
“One Hundred Fourteen Experiments and Treatments” the main work of the Swiss physician/alchemist Philippe Aureole is Theophrastus Paracelsus. It was first translated into English by John Hester, a specialist in spagical medicine, who published it in London in 1596. The text contains 114 examples detailing Paracelsus’ methods for treating a number of common disorders. It is an invaluable chronicle of the medical practices of the Renaissance, when ancient healing traditions met the rapidly emerging scientific method.
If you’ve ever wondered what American medicine was like during the Civil War, look no further Fair examination and criticism of all medical systems in Vogue. This 1866 review of the various schools and systems of American medicine in the mid-19th centuryth Century, written by Alva Curtis, AM, MD, and published by the Cincinnati Literary and Scientific Institute. Curtis’s book was written nearly half a century before the infamous Flexner report, which defined the standards of “modern” medicine based on pharmacology, revealing many of the treatment systems then flourishing in the US.
Although primarily focused on plants and herbal medicines, the World Library of Herbs is actually a comprehensive chronicle of medical history, ranging from some of humanity’s earliest medical practices to current questions about quality assurance and safety methods.
User-friendly, comprehensive and well-designed, this vital resource goes beyond books. There are a number of audio profiles outstanding women in the history of herbs, a section of programs for children, a brief but accurate history of herbalism, and an embedded link to the PubMed home page for those who want to verify references or increase their knowledge of specific topics.
Already extensive, the World Herb Library is an ongoing project that is sure to expand in the coming years. For visitors who want a guided tour, the curators have arranged one “100 important” a list of books that they consider particularly important and influential.
Thanks to Christopher Hobbs, Robert Brucia, Ed Smith, and other herbal experts who put so much love, heart, and knowledge into this library.
Access to the World Herb Library is completely free. If you would like to support the project financially, see below: https://worldherblibrary.org/donation/
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