RARE & USED BOOKS on Ethnobotany, Medicine, Botany & Natural History

* Unless Invited, * NO DISCOUNT CODES CAN BE USED IN BOOK SECTION!  

* Unless Invited, * NO DISCOUNT CODES CAN BE USED IN BOOK SECTION!  

From  The Collection of Michael James Cottingham - Herbalist

We live in a time, when books have taken a back seat to the modern information age of the internet and cyber space. We live in a time where it seems all the information you need is on the internet, and if it is not to be found there, it appears to not be valid. Never has the illusion been more succinct in making people forget the need and importance of books.

The internet can be controlled. The internet can be censored. The internet can be turned off, either through accident or by purpose. The modern great library of the internet can all vanish in a blink of an eye.

Herbal Medicine books for centuries, have held the known body of plant knowledge, each century of knowledge building upon the last. Cornerstone or important works becoming popular for a hundred years or more, until the next cornerstone book was laid down upon the last important work, building and building up the vast knowledge of plant usage. 

Today, a lot of people think herbal medicine is a relative "new thing", but little do most people know that for nearly 400 years ( in Western Europe & The United States), herbal medicine was the first and foremost of practiced medicine modalities. In America alone, herbal medicine was the main form of practiced medicine. The body of knowledge from this 200+ years, is found mainly in these old books.  This was from a time when your average doctor from the early 1800's knew more about botanical medicine, more than even the most skilled of today's "modern herbalist"!  

One might not realize how much was forgotten. How much is not being used and how many amazing medicine plants are just waiting to be rediscovered. These books are the future, just as they were the past, and the body of plant knowledge is forever building on the real, not the illusion of the disconnect.

Many of the books I offer here are from my personal library, some, not all will come with my personal bookplate. You can either keep tucked in the book or fix to the inside of the front cover.  I think it is rather interesting to show the lineage of an important book .. whose library it came from, what journey it was on, where it rested for awhile .. as it made its way down the timeline.