PREFACE 



The writing of this book on that fascinating and somewhat 

 neglected ^ branch of garden Hterature — the old EngHsh Herbals — 

 has been a labour of love, but it could not have been done 

 without all the kind help I have had. My grateful thanks 

 are due to the authorities at the British Museum, to Professor 

 Burkitt of Cambridge, and very specially to Mr. J. B. Capper 

 for invaluable help. I am indebted to Dr. James, the Provost 

 of Eton, for his kind permission to reproduce an illustration 

 from a twelfth-century MS. in the Library of Eton College for 

 the frontispiece. I find it difficult to express either my indebted- 

 ness or my gratitude to Dr. and Mrs. Charles Singer, the former 

 for all his help and the latter for her generous permission to 

 make use of her valuable bibUography of early scientific manu- 

 scripts. I am further indebted to Dr. Charles Singer for reading 

 the chapter on the Anglo-Saxon herbals in proof. For their kind 

 courtesy in answering my inquiries concerning the MS. herbals 

 in the libraries of their respective cathedrals, I offer my grateful 

 thanks to the Deans of Lincoln and Gloucester Cathedrals, and 

 to the Rev. J. N. Needham for information concerning the 

 herbals in the library of Durham Cathedral; to the librarians 

 of the following colleges — All Souls' College, Oxford; Balliol 

 College, Oxford; Corpus Christi College, Oxford; Corpus 

 Christi College, Cambridge; Emmanuel College, Cambridge; 

 Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; Magdalene College, 

 Cambridge; Peterhouse, Cambridge; Jesus College, Cambridge; 

 St. John's College, Oxford, and Trinity College, Cambridge; 



^ It is a remarkable fact that even the eleventh edition of the omniscient 

 Encyclopa-dia Briiannica has no article on Herbals. 



