Tractatus de Herbis

The contributions of Byzantine, Arabic and Mozarabic physicians were introduced into the Greek foundational texts of medicine, as was also the knowledge of people from further afield across the borders of the western world.

[2] the earliest surviving version, from the early 14th century (before 1330)[3] and now known as Egerton 747, and in the British Library was relatively unknown till 1950, following which it was realised that there was a whole family of herbals with a common ancestor, which became collectively known as the Tractatus de herbis.

Though this manuscript lacks a signature, colophon, or any indication of its provenance or date, it has traditionally been considered to be of North Italian origin, most likely from the Lombardy region from about 1440 judging from its Gothic-style script.

Later, it belonged to the Marquis of Magny, Nicolas-Joseph Foucault [fr] (1643-1721), then to the English collector Hans Sloane (1660-1753), before it became part of the collections of the British Museum in 1839.

[4] In 2002 the Folio Society reproduced the Tractatus de Herbis in a numbered limited edition of 1000, accompanied by a commentary volume written by Minta Collins with list of plants compiled by Sandra Raphael.