Classic Herbal Texts.

All scanned works on this site are copyright © 2000–2024 Henriette Kress - unless otherwise specified.


Books


Journals


This is helpful if you want to read the numbers:

  • "Appendix: II: Tables of Weights and Measures" (the first part), from The Dispensatory of the United States of America, by George B. Wood and Franklin Bache, 1876.

Where should you concentrate your efforts?

  • The later the better (up to a point) - but however you look at it, King's is still the best, because of the sheer amount of detail.
  • Eclectic (and physiomedical) MDs are better than pharmacists - at least if you're a practising herbalist. But King's was written by an eclectic MD and was extensively revised by both an eclectic MD and an eclectic pharmacist - it's not considered the best classic herbal work there is for nothing.

The best recent herbal work? Forget MDs there, they concentrate on more or less irrelevant single constituents (that being what they're used to). Go for books written by herbalists, by people who work with whole plants and with whole people. The ones I've found worthwhile are listed in the medicinal herb FAQ.


Last updated Jun 2023. Have a comment? Tell me.