Herbal Handbook: 50 Profiles in Words and Art from the Rare Book Collections of The New York Botanical Garden

If you’ve ever rubbed an herb between your fingers just to breathe it in, this book understands the impulse.

In Herbal Handbook, fifty-one herbs unfold through words and exquisite botanical art drawn from the rare book collections of The New York Botanical Garden. Some are precious and storied, others humble and familiar—yet each carries a long history of care, nourishment, and daily use. Together, they reveal how deeply herbs have been woven into human life for centuries.

Each profile invites readers to linger: to learn how an herb was grown and used in the past, how it’s valued today, and how it might find a place in modern life. Alongside the stories are simple recipes and projects—small, tactile ways to bring herbs into the rhythm of the day, whether through food, drink, skincare, or quiet ritual.

Lavishly illustrated and rich with curious details, this book feels like stepping into an old apothecary or leafing through a treasured archive—one that connects garden, kitchen, and body with a sense of continuity and care.

Herbal Handbook is a celebration of plants that delight the senses and sustain us, inviting readers to slow down, notice, and rediscover the quiet magic of herbs.

Perfect for gifting, browsing, or returning to again and again, this is a book to savor as much as the plants it honors.