![]() ![]() Its editor, botanist and apothecary Thomas Johnson, added a further 800 new species and 700 illustrations. The Library’s 1636 edition of The Herball is the third printing which includes many corrections and new information based on empirical observation. He was also responsible for the “Goose-barnacle legend”, reporting in the book that the Barnacle goose essentially began its life by growing from a tree rather than an egg – a conclusion he reached after obtaining specimens of muscle-like shells from an old, rotten tree which showed evidence of feathers and soft down. Although Lobel claimed to have found more than 1,000 mistakes, Gerard grew increasingly frustrated, dismissing Lobel and forging ahead with what was a less than reliable publication.Įrrors that appear in The Herball include the description of the white potato which Gerard mistakenly believed to be native to America, calling it the “Virginian Potato” to distinguish it from the red sweet potato. Accusations of plagiarism, coupled with Gerard’s lack of scientific training and resulting incorrect, even mythical, plant descriptions, led publisher, John Norton, to hire Lobel to proof The Herball translations. Gerard reportedly changed how the plants were arranged, ordering them according to Mathias Lobel’s 1570 Stirpium Adversaria Nova, and took the majority of the woodcuts from Jacobus Theodorus’ 1590 Eicones Plantarum, which themselves had been reproduced from earlier herbalists. In fact Gerard claimed almost sole credit for the work, stating in the book’s preface that upon Priest’s death “his translation likewise perished” and that “the first fruits of these mine own labours”. Before the book could be published Priest died and the Queen’s Printer, John Norton, asked Gerard to complete the project. A member of the London College of Physicians, by the name of Robert Priest, had been commissioned to translate Rembert Dodoens’ 1583 Latin herbal Stirpium historiae pemptades sex into English. It was reprinted in 1633 and again in 1636, by which time it included more than 2,500 illustrative woodcuts.Īlthough immensely popular, The Herball was steeped in controversy, and was considered by some to be a translation of another’s work. It also included anecdotes on the folklore surrounding the plants. It documented the common and botanical names of the plants, their habitats, time of flowering and their various uses. It described more than 1,000 plant species in more than 800 chapters and contained approximately 1,800 hand-coloured woodcuts. The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes, arguably the most famous of all English herbals, was Gerard’s second published work. He soon became popular and was presented with rare plants and seeds from around the world, and received offers to supervise the gardens of noblemen. He divided his time between the gardens of Lord Burghley’s Cecil House at Hertfordshire, of which he was superintendent, and the Physic Garden at the College of Physicians, of which he was curator. Although granted permission to establish his own practice, Gerard became interested in plants whilst studying in London. Little is known of his parentage or his early education except that he was apprenticed at seventeen to barber-surgeon, Alexander Mason, in 1562. Gerard was born at Nantwich, Cheshire, in 1545 and received his only schooling at the nearby village of Willaston. Generally considered to be the best and most exhaustive work of its kind, it continued to be used as a standard reference well into the 18th century. It brought John Gerard instant fame and remained highly esteemed for the next 200 years. Essentially, a gigantic plant catalogue, it documented more than 1,000 species, many accompanied by hand-coloured illustrations. A massive tome of some 1630 pages, The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes was first published in 1597.
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