The writing of this book on that fascinating and somewhat neglected 1 branch of garden literature — the old English Herbals has been a labour of love, but it Could not have been done without all the kind help I have had. My grateful thanks are due to the authorities at the British Museum, to Professor Burkitt of Cambridge, and very specially to Mr. J. B. Capper for invaluable help. I am indebted to Dr. James, the Provost of Eton, for his kind permission to reproduce an illustration from a twelfth-century ms. In the Library of Eton College for the frontispiece. I find it difficult to express either my indebted ness or my gratitude to Dr. And Mrs. Charles Singer, the former for all his help and the latter for her generous permission to make use of her valuable bibliography of early scientific manu scripts. I am further indebted to Dr. Charles Singer for reading the chapter on the anglo-saxon herbals in proof. For their kind courtesy in answering my inquiries concerning the ms. Herbals in the libraries of their respective cathedrals, I offer my grateful thanks to the Deans of Lincoln and Gloucester Cathedrals, and to the Rev. J. N. Needham for information concerning the herbals in the library of Durham Cathedral; to the librarians of the following colleges — All Souls' College, Oxford; Balliol College, Oxford; Corpus Christi College, Oxford; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; Emmanuel College, Cambridge; Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; Magdalene College, Cambridge; Peterhouse, Cambridge; Jesus College, Cambridge; St. John's College, Oxford, and Trinity College, Cambridge.