The Sherman Art Library Special Collections includes outstanding manuscript facsimiles of early herbals, or Materia Medica.  The term materia medica was derived from the title of a 1st century work by the Greek physician Dioscorides entitled De materia medica libri quinque in Latin, which translates as concerning medical matter in five volumes, in English.

Materia Medica has since come to refer to both ancient herbals and modern pharmacopeias.  Materia Medica were among the first written works produced.  These works contain physical descriptions of plants, minerals, animals, even the seasons, as well as their   medicinal, culinary or toxic properties, and often include associated myths and legends.

Facsimiles on display are:

Le livre des simples medecines. Barcelona : Moleiro Editor, c2001

Medicina antiqua : Codex Vindobonensis 93 der Oterreichischen Nationalbibliothek : Kommentar / von Hans Zotter. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, c1996

Theatrum sanitatis : Biblioteca casanatense. Barcelona : M. Moleiro Editor, S.A., c1999

Theriaka y Alexipharmaka di Nicandro.  Barcelona : Moleiro, 1997