BRUNSCHWIG, Hieronymus.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A most excellent and perfecte homish apothecarye or homely physick booke, for all the grefes and diseases of the bodye. First and only edition in English of Thesaurus pauperum, first published in 1507, a popular book of medicine designed for self-treatment, "which became the model for later pharmacopeias for the poor" (Cleveland Herbal Collection).Brunschwig presented his work as a charitable endeavour for the poor, allowing them access to the knowledge formerly restricted to medical practitioners. "The concept proved enormously popular, and the Thesaurus pauperum took on a life of its own... It went through twenty-four editions between 1537 and 1619" (Rankin, p. 116)."John Hollybush may have been a pseudonym for John Turner to avoid the embargo placed on his writings because of his religious controversialist activities; that theory seems likely since the work is usually found bound with Turner's herbal which was issued from the same press. An actual John Hollybush did apparently exist, however, and oversaw Bishop Coverdale's Latin and English Testament through the press during Coverdale's absence" (Cleveland Herbal Collection).

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