Hi everyone

I was looking through some stuff last night and came across a box containing copies of old issues of 'Herbs' which I acquired a few years ago off ebay. In the box were 4 copies from 1989 which were A5 size.  Back then Penelope Ody had Hilary Paviour's Editorial job and 'Herbs' was called 'The Herbal Review'. It cost £1.50 and contained some lovely articles (as Herbs does today I hasten to add). There are some wonderful articles and recipes in these issues, I'm going to look into getting permission to include some of them on the website showing Herbs in the 70's, 80's, 90's and norties.

The next issue I have is the Autumn/Winter 1990 issue, the title changed to 'Herbs' and it became A4 in size, on the back of this issue it lists back issues of the Herbal Review back to Summer 1979 which it calls Volume 4 No 3. So I'm assuming that the Society didn't begin to publish a journal for members until somewhere around 1976? If it was earlier, was it still called The Herbal Review and when did the society first begin to publish a journal?

There is also a list of booklets and information sheets available to purchase, did anybody buy any of these and do you still have copies? I know that Jessica Houdret just revamped Eric Groves booklet called Growing Herbs so that one is still available to buy. But does anyone have a copy of Herbal Hair Colouring by Mark Constantine or A Guide To Spices by Ivan Day? If so would you consider loaning them to me so I can archive them?

I'm also looking for titles for books that were written for or in conjunction with the Herb Society, I have a few in my collection include:-

Herbs and Herb Gardens of Britain - E & R Peplow
Herbal Medicine - D D Buchman

In the new books section I want to add all the Herb Society books as a reference, so if you have any titles and authors and publishing dates I'd appreciate it. Any anecdotes or observations or memorable moments from past events would be most welcome as well. The history of the herb society is not publicly documented aside from a little information on our founder Mrs Leyel. Yet many people have worked tirelessly to make the society what it is and there have been many evolutions, so much so that I think it would be interested to discover how the Herb Society got to where it is today.

So if you have any old issues of The Herbal Review pre 1989 or anything before that please let me know. I'll check with Flick to see how many old issues still survive at Sulgrave and see what I can find out, but any help from forum members would be much appreciated.

Debs

Herb Society Webmistress

Hi Debs
I know that the library at Sulgrave has back copies of all previous journals. Whether they also have copies of the inserts I don't know, but its worth asking Flick.
I also remember that at one time the mag. used to have an isert (green paper I think) that was specificly for practitioners. Wasn't it called the Herbarium?
Jenny

No idea about the 'Herbarium' insert. I've only been a member since about 2003! I've already asked Flick about old copies of 'Herbs' and she's going to have a look and let me have all the issue numbers and etc. She's also going to give me a list of back issues that we'll be able to offer for sale on the site.

When I asked Flick about back issues recently she said "When I have time will list all be back issues available and how many.  In some cases, we have several boxes left and  in others only 2 or 3 individual magazines. In many cases non at all." So we'll just have to see what Flick comes up with, one of the reasons I asked everyone is I was hoping some members may have any missing issues so we can archive a complete collection of the magazines electronically. My hope is to turn them in to a pdf archive that members will have access to for free and non-members will be able to obtained the printed pdfs for a small fee. I hope we can make all these things happen because there is some wonderful information available in the old journals that many new members would be delighted to have access to.

Debs

Herb Society Webmistress

Dear Debs,

Under its old name Society of Herbalists,the following was published

The Divine Origin of the Craft of the Herbalist by Sir.E.Wallis Budge

He was keeper of Egyptian antiquities at the British Museum and one of Mrs.Leyel's prominent friends.Published I believe 1928.It has been reprinted.

Regards Kevin

Hi Kevin

More useful information! I have seen a dedication to Sir Wallis Budge in one of Mrs Leyel's books, although for the life of me I can't recall which, I blame all this festive madness! The current information on the About Us page mentions Mrs leyel's death in 1957 and the split of Society of Herbalists and the Culpeper shops, but not the date, was this in the same year? And what year did the Society of Herbalists decide to change thier name to the Herb Society? I think all of this information is important historically, don't you?

The current information documents the move from London to Sulgrave, but that isn't the whole story, the Herb Society was based at the National Herb Centre for a period of time, although this wasn't for long, it would make sense to document the complete history of the society. I can see that we're going to have to try and find out more background information. I wonder of any photos exist of the Society of Herbalists London headquarters or any documents? Does anybody know who it would be worth contacting to find out?

Debs

Hi Debs,

If you go to my post on Mrs.Leyel's books I mention photographs there.

If I remember correctly[probably not],a couple of the pictures contained in the old catalogue were reprinted as sepia coloured post cards by the then owners of the Culpeper Shops,around 1985 or a little earlier.I remember seeing these in a shop they had at that time in Norwich.

Kevin

Ohhhhh I'd love some of those postcards, I've done a search on the Internet and the usual places such as Ebay and haven't seen any, if anybody has any they no longer want please, please let me know thanks again kevin for some rather useful information.

Debs

Hi Debs,

Just a quick line.
Go into Amazon UK,into advanced search and fill in the publisher field[nothing else] with The Society of Herbalists,then search.

You will find an edition of Culpeper's Herbal published by the Society in 1938.It is the third item,so scroll down.This is new to me.

The Divine Origin of the Craft of the Herbalist is also on offer there.

regards Kevin