Erster Krauterbuch, Leonhardt Rauwolf, 1560-1562
On loan from Hortus Botanicus RUL

This herbal is the oldest existing one of its kind. It was compiled by the German doctor and botanist Leonhardt Rauwolf (1535-1596). Rauwolf studied at various universities. He began in Wittemberg and then went to Montpellier, before finally receiving his degree in Valence. Afterwards he settled in Augsburg. During his nomadic student days Rauwolf had begun a botanical collection, which he stuck into herbals. In Augsburg he also owned a botanical garden.In 1573 Rauwolf left for the Middle East for three years, where he added local plants to his collection. He finally died as an army doctor in Hungary. The legacy of this botanical nomad consisted of a travel journal and four herbals with the plants that he had collected in the course of his wanderings. This herbal was Rauwolf's first, containing the plants he had found while a student at Montpellier.