No pains have been spared to make the bibliographies as complete as possible, but I should be glad to be told of any errors or omissions. There are certain editions of _Banckes's Herbal_ and _The Grete Herball_ mentioned by authorities such as Ames, Hazlitt, etc., of which no copies can now be found in the chief British libraries (see p. 204 _et seq._). If any copies of these editions are in private libraries I should be grateful to hear of them. The rarest printed herbal is "_Arbolayre contenāt la qualitey et vertus proprietiez des herbes gōmes et simēces extraite de plusiers tratiers de medicine com̄ent davicene de rasis de constatin de ysaac et plateaire selon le con̄u usaige bien correct_." (Supposed to have been printed by M. Husz at Lyons.) It is believed that there are only two copies of this book now extant. One is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the other was sold in London, March 23, 1898, but I have been unable to discover who is the present owner. For this or any other information I should be most grateful. ELEANOUR SINCLAIR ROHDE. FOOTNOTE: [1] It is a remarkable fact that even the eleventh edition of the omniscient _Encyclopædia Britannica_ has no article on Herbals. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THE ANGLO-SAXON HERBALS 1 Evidence of the existence of books on herbs in the eighth century--Tenth-century manuscripts--Their importance as the first records of Anglo-Saxon plant lore and of folk medicine of a still earlier age--Preliminary survey of the more important manuscripts--_Leech Book of Bald_--Authorship and origin--Oldest Leech Book written in the vernacular in Europe--Saxon translation of the _Herbarium Apuleii Platonici_--Illustrations--Saxon translation of the Περὶ Διδαξέων--The _Lacnunga_--Importance of these manuscripts to the student of folk lore--Folk lore of the origin of disease--Doctrine of the "elf-shot"--"Flying venom"--Doctrine of the worm as the ultimate source of disease--Demoniac possession--Herbal remedies--Picturesqueness of Saxon methods of treating diseases--Smoking patient with fumes of herbs--Cattle similarly treated--Use of herbs as amulets--Binding on with red wool--Specially sacred herbs--Charms and incantations to be used in picking and administering herbs--Transference of disease--Predominance of the number nine--Ceremonies to be observed in the picking of herbs--Nature-worship in these ceremonies--Eostra--Prayer to Earth. CHAPTER II LATER MANUSCRIPT HERBALS AND THE EARLY PRINTED HERBALS 42