'Only twelve copies of the May 1618 edition are known to exist...this high-quality facsimile of one of the survivors seems a very fitting way to mark its 400th anniversary' Briony Hudson (Pharmaceutical Historian)

The Pharmacopoea Londinensis of May 1618 is a historical landmark, the coming together of the College of Physicians and London apothecaries to produce the first pharmacopoeia in the world that was mandatory on a whole country; the first legally binding regulation of pharmacy and dispensing. Less than a dozen copies of the original are known of this, arguably, the most important publication that the College has ever produced.

 Produced here in facsimile from a copy in the College library to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its publication, and with a comprehensive epilogue and bibliography on its historic origins by Dr Henry Oakeley FRCP, it is a record of our College’s illustrious past and its contribution to the world, and a work book for medical historians, herbalists, pharmacists and physicians with a serious interest in the history of medicines.