Applied Illustrated Compendium of Materia Medica (4-Volume Set)

Written by Li Shizhen, considered as one of the key achievements of ancient Chinese civilization for its wealth of information on medicine mineralogy botany zoology and natural science—Compendium of Materia Medica covers the long period between remote antiquity and the Ming Dynasty when the book was first published in 1593. It covers as many as 1892 kinds of herb medicines.
This 4-volume set is published in 2006 under the assistances from Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, the Institute of Botany of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the institute of Medicinal Plant Development of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Cornell University of US.
Based on modern drug use, in this 4-volume set, the compliers carefully select 500 frequently used herbal medicines only. Each entry is presented with Chinese description, color plate, English description, and index. The Chinese description is based on the Pharmacopeia of the People's Republic of China (2005 edition).
In its 21 chapters, the book not only offers information on these 500 herbal medicines systematically and comprehensively - their names, bynames/common names, sources, original plants, distribution, descriptions, harvest time and processing methods, chemical compositions, pharmacological actions, properties and flavors, actions and indications, and dosage and usage - but it also provides a concise narration with detailed and accurate facts.
The 4-volume work is presented mostly in simplified Chinese characters with limited English explanation only. The English part is concise and describes the sources, actions and indications for each herb only. Each entry comes with its common English name too. The books are indexed by functions of herbs and in Chinese characters only. English readers may find the book hard to follow unless under the assistance of those who can read simplified Chinese characters.
The selected herbal medicine based on the practical value with scientific accuracy can fulfill the clinical needs, and the realistically painted color plates are elegant, vivid and fresh, exhibiting the morphological features objectively and lively. The 4-volume set is packaged in a sturdy color box with adequate padding. It is of great value for the serious TCM practitioners, TCM scholars and libraries.