Timeline of printed herbals from 1470 to 1670

The standard reference on this subject is Herbals by Agnes Arber, first printed in 1912 but with subsequent second and third editions. The third edition has an introduction by William Stearn who also supplemented the already extensive bibliography. Appendix I lists the major first edition Herbals that were published between 1470 and 1670, the following being a brief summary and adaptation of that list. It is not comprehensive but intended to give an impression of the herbal literature available in Europe at this time, the principal authors and the places where they worked and published.

?1472 – Bartholomaeus Anglicus – Liber de Prprietatibus Rerum – ?Cologne
1475 – Konrad der Megenberg – Augsburg
1477 – Aemilius Macer – Brussells
1478 – Dioscorides – Medemblick. De Materia Medica of Dioscorides First edition in Latin
?1481 – Apuleis Platonicus – Rome
1483 – Theophrastus – De Causis Plantarum – First Latin edition
1484 – The Latin Herbarius – Peter Schöffer. Mainz
1485 – The German Herbarius
1491 – Jacobus Meydenbach – Ortus Sanitatis – Moguntia
1500 – Hieronymus Braunschweig
1516 – Johannes Ruellius
1525 – Herball. Rycharde Banckes. London
pre 1526 – Grand Herbier – Paris
1530 – Otto Brunfelsius – Herbarum Vivae Icones
1533 – Eucharius Rhodion – Kreutterbüch. Frankfurt
1536 – Amatus Lusitanus – Index Dioscoridis …
1536 – Johannes Ruellius – De Natura Stirpium … Paris
1537 – Antonia Brassavola – Examen omnium simplicium . . .
1538 – William Turner – Libellus de re herbaria . . . London
1539 – Hieronymus Tragus (Jerome Bock) – New Kreüter Bůch . . . Strassburg
1541 – Conradus Gesnerus (Konrad Gesner) – Historia Plantarum . . . Paris
1542 – Leonhardus Fuchsius (Leonhart Fuchs) – De Historia Stirpium . . .
1542 – Conradus Gesnerus (Konrad Gesner) – Catalogus Platarum Latinè, Graecè, Germanicè et Gallicè . . .
1544 – Petrus Matthiolus (Pierandrea Mattioli) – Di Pedacio Dioscoride . . . in lingua volgare Italiana
1548 – William Turner – The names of Herbes in Greke, Latin, Englishe, Duche and Frenche wyth the Commune Names that Herbaries and Apotecaries use London
1551 – William Turner – A New Herball London
1553 – Amatus Lusitanus (J.R. de Castell-Branco) – In Dioscoridis . . . Venice
1553 – Petrus Bellonius (Pierre Belon) – De Arboribus Coniferis . . .
1554 – Rembertus Dodonaeus (Rembert Dodoens) – Cruydeboeck
1559 – Bartholomaeus Maranta – Methodi Cognoscendorum Simplicium . . . Venice
1561 – Luigi Anguillara – Semplici dell’ Excellente . . .
1561 – Valerius Cordus – In Hoc Volumine Continentur . . .
1563 – Garcia ab Horto (de Orta, de Horta) – Coloquios dos Simples, e Drogas . . .
1564 – Antonius Mizaldus (Antoine Mizauld) – Alexikepus, seu Auxiliaris Hortus . . .
1566 – Rembertus Dodonaeus (Rembert Dodoens) – Frumentorum, Leguminum, Palustrium . . .
1568 – Rembertus Dodonaeus (Rembert Dodoens) – Florum et Coronarium . . . Antwerp
1569 – Nicolas Monardes Dos Libros . . . Seville
1570 – Paracelsus (Bombast von Hohenheim) – Ettliche Tractatus . . . Strrassburg
1570 – Mathias Lobelius (de l’Obel or de Lobel) – & Petrus Pena (Pierre Pena) – Stirpium Adversaria . . . London
1571– Petrus Andreas Matthiolus (Pierandrea Mattioli) – Compendium de Plantis Omnibus . . . Venice
1571 Nicolaus Winckler – Chronica Herbarum . . .
1574 – Rembertus Dodonaeus – Purgantium Aliarumque . . . Antwerp
1575 – Bartholomaeus Carrichter – Kreutterbuch . . . Strassburg
1576 – Carolus Clusius (Charles de l’Écluse) – Rariorum Aliquot . . . Antwerp
1578 – Christoval Acosta Tractado de las Drogas . . .
1578 – Leonhardus Thurneisserus (Leonhardt Thurneisser zum Thurn) Historia Sive Descriptio Plantaryum . . .
1580 – Rembertus Dodonaeus Historia vitis Vinique . . .
1581 – Mathias Lobelius (Mathias de Lobel or del’Obel) – Plantarum Seu Stirpium Icones . . . Anterp
1582-3 – Leonhard Rauwolff Aigentliche Beschreibug der Raiss . . . (fourth part with woodcuts)
1583 – Andreas Caesalpinus (Andrea Caesalpino) De Plantis Libri . . . Florence
1583 – Carolous Clusius (Charles de l’Ecluse) – Car Clusii Atrebatis Rariorum Aliquot Stirpium . . . Antwerp
1583 – Rembertus Dodoens – Stirpium Historiae Pemptades . . .
1584 – Geofroy Linocier – L’Histoire des Plantes . . . Paris
1585 – Castor Durante – Herbario Nuovo . . .
1586 – Andreas Petrus Matthiolus (Pierandrea Mattioli) – De Plantis Epitome Utillissima . . . Frankfurt
1586 – Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues – Le Chef des Champs . . .
1586-7 – Jacobus Dalechampius (Jacques d’Aléchamps or Daléchamps) – Historia Generalis Plantarum . . .
1588 – Joachim Camerarius – Hortus Medicus et Philosophicus . . . Frankfurt
1588 – Johannes Baptista Porta (Giambattista Porta) – Phytognomica . . . Naples
1588, 1591 – Jacobus Theodorus Tabernaemontanus (Jacob Dietrich) – Neuw Kreuterbuch . . . Frankfurt
1592 – Prosper Alpinus (Prospero Alpino) – De Plantis Aegypti . . .
1592 – Fabius Columna (Fabio Colonna) – . . . Sive Plantarum Aliquot Historia . . .
1592 – Adam Zaluziansky von Zaluzian – Methodi Herbariae . . . Prague
1596 – Casparus Bauhinus (Gaspard Bauhin) – . . . Seu Enumeratio Plantarum . . . Basle
1597 – John Gerarde – The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes . . . London
1601 – Casparus Bauhin – Animadversiones In Historiam Generalem Plantarum . . . Frankfurt
1601 – Carolus Clusius – Caroli Clusii Atrebatis . . . Rariorum Plantarum Antwerp
1606 – Fabius Columna (Fabio Colonna) Minus Cognitarum Stirpium . . . Rome
1606 – Adrianus Spegelius (A. Spieghel) – Isagoges in Rem Herbariam Libri . . .
1611 – Paulus Renealmus (Paul Renealme) – Specimen Historiae Plantarum . . . Paris
1612 – Johannes Theodorus de Bry – Florilegium Novum. Frankfurt
1613 – Basilius Beslerus (Basil Besler) – Hortus Eystettensis . . . Eichstadt
1614 – Passaeus Crsipianus – Hortus Floridus . . . Utrecht
1615 – Francisco Hernandez – Quattro Libros . . .
1616 – Johannes Olorinus (Johann Sommer)- Centuria Herbarum Mirabilium . . . Magdeberg
1619 – Johannes Bauhinus (Jean Bauhin) & J.H. Cherlerus (J.H. Cherler) .. Historiae Plantarum Generalis . . .
1620 – Casparus Bauhinus (Gaspard Bauhin) – . . . Theatri Botanici . . . Frankfurt
1622 – Anon (Daniel Rabel) – Theatrum Florae Paris
1623 – Casparus Bauhinus (Gaspard Bauhin) – . . . Theatri Botanici . . . Frankfurt
1625 – Johann Popp (Johanne Poppe) – Kreuter Buch . . . Leipzig
1628 – Guy de la Brosse – De la Nature . . .
1629 – Thomas Johnson – Iter Plantarum Investigationis . . . London
1629 – John Parkinson – Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris . . . A Garden of all sorts of pleasant flowers which our English ayre will permit to be noursed up . . . This is the first English book devoted to garden flowers and signalled the general transition from subsistence to ornamental gardens among a segment of society
1631 – Antonio Donati – Trattato des Semplici . . . Venice
1634 – Thomas Johnson – Mercurius Botanicus . . . London
1640 – John Parkinson – Theatrum Botanicum: the Theater of Plants London
1649 – Nicholas Culpeper – A Physicall Directory or A Translation of the London Dispensatory Made by the College of Physicians in London . . . London
1650 – William How – Phytologia Britannica . . . London
1656 – William Cole – The Art of Simpling London
1657 – William Cole – Adam in Eden or Nature’s Paradise . . . London
1658 – Casparus Bauhinus (Gaspard Bauhin) – . . . Theatri Botanici . . . Basle
1659 – Robert Lovell – . . . Enchiridion Botanicum, or A Compleat Herball . . . Oxford
1662 – Johannes Johnstonus (John Johnstone) – Dendrographias . . . Frankfurt
1664 – Robert Turner – The British Physician: or The Nature and Vertues of English Plants London
1666 – Dominicus Chabraeus (D. Chabrey) – Stirpium Icones . . . Geneva
1667-1668 – Ulysses Aldrovandus (Ulisse Aldrovandi) – Dendrologie Naturalis . . . (possibly misattributed)
1670 – Petrus Nylandt – De Nederlandtse Herbarius . . . Amsterdam