Skilful Physician

The Skilful Physician, originally published in England in 1656, is a collection of natural recipes for disease remedies, perfumes and treated wines. Intended for a popular not a professional audience, the book emphasizes preventive medicine through healthy diet and life-style. The compendium is representative of popular medical texts of the mid-seventeenth century, a genre that includes the well-known Culpepers' Complete Herbal written by Nicholas Culpeper and first published in 1652. Unlike Culpeper's Herbal which has been reprinted extensively, The Skilful Physician has never been reprinted. This edition, supplemented by a new preface, introduction, glossary and table of medicinal natural ingredients, makes a fascinating work available to modern scholars and a modern public.