Compendium of Materia Medica

Compendium of Materia Medica, known in Chinese as Bencao gangmu, is a large encyclopedic work compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and first published in 1578. Written in Classical Chinese, it gathers medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology into one structured reference. Rather than telling a narrative, it organizes the medicinal knowledge available at the time and describes the substances that were thought to have healing value, including plants, animals, and minerals.

This book suits readers interested in traditional Chinese medicine, the history of science, or old reference works that try to map an entire field of knowledge. What makes it distinctive is its scope: it is both a practical medical compendium and a broad survey of nature as it was understood in the Ming period. It will appeal to readers who like historical nonfiction, archival-style scholarship, and texts that show how knowledge was collected and classified before modern science took shape.