HERB - Re: Culpepper

[Jenne Heise]

On Mon, 23 Aug 1999, Kathleen Keeler wrote:
> > You know, I'm curious as to the popularity of Culpepper in the SCA. For
> > one thing, it's postperiod.
> Availability?

*nod* I'd bet so, yup. Culpeper is very popular with publishers for some
reason that I'm not sure of. 

> Culpeper's 1st ed was 1651.
> Maybe that's not far postperiod if you consider that even today the information
> in a book is 3-5 years old when the book hits the bookstores-- it takes that
> long for the editting, proof reading, printing, binding, distributing. 

This is actually an artifact of the publishing system. In the early days
of printing, most publishers were also the printers, and generally the
only copychecking was done by authorities who were in charge of permits or
imprimaturs. From what I've gathered, it was common for the real delay in
printing/publishing to be waiting for the engravers/illustrators to
finish-- many books seem to have gone through one edition a year in the
Elizabethan period.

> Do you have a history that has biases more relevant to the SCA?

Well, I'm particularly fond of _Green Enchantment_ and _Magic Gardens_ by
Rosetta Clarkson. They are very dated, of course, but they are excellent
secondary sources. I can't think of any other secondary sources that cover
as much territory in period works...
 
Suppose we could get a hold of any book we wanted: I think the ideal books
for the beginner to have would be Dioscorides (not that ANYONE has an
edition out right now) and Bankes [1525] (ditto). What would you
recommend?

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
 "in verbis et in herbis, et in lapidibus sunt virtutes"
(In words, and in plants, and in stones, there is power.)

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