The precedence for creating a pharmacopoeia went back to 1618 when the College of Physicians of London created their own London Pharmacopoeia to regulate the manufacture of medicine. The first edition of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia was created in a period of tension between physicians and surgeons and the College of Physicians in Edinburgh sought to regulate the practice of medicine by providing standardized recipes. The first item in the College of Physician's minutes in 1682 note the need for a committee for creating a pharmacopoeia.
The committee for the creation of the pharmacopoeia struggled for the next seventeen years, finally agreeing upon a text and publishing the first edition of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia in 1699. The first edition was rife with dispute amongst the College of Physicians. Robert Sibbald was a main figure in its eventual publication, however the College divided into two camps; the new science and Sibbald's dated faction. Members of the College not only disagreed on content of the pharmacopoeia, but style and structure as well.