Sachs' first published volume was the "Handbuch der Experimentalphysiologie des Pflanzen" (1865; French edition, 1868), which gives an admirable account of the state of knowledge in certain departments of the subject, and includes a great deal of original information. This was followed in 1868 by the first edition of his famous "Lehrbuch der Botanik", by far the best book of its kind. It is a comprehensive work, giving an able summary of the botanical science of the period, enriched with the results of many original investigations. The third edition was translated into French by Philippe Édouard Léon Van Tieghem in 1873, and into English by Alfred Bennett in 1875, and published by Oxford University Press. The fourth and last German edition was published in 1874, and also issued by Oxford in 1882.