Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 379.5

JOHN GERARD (1545-1612) The herball or Generall historie of plantes. Gathered by John Gerarde of London, master in chirvrgerie. Very much enlarged and amended by Thomas Johnson, citizen and apothecarye of London. Printed by Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers 1633 Very much enlarged and amended second edition (GM). 19 p. l., 1630 (i.e. 1634), [46] p. illus., pl. 33 cm.

“The first edition of Gerarde’s herbal (1597) held the field without competition for more than a generation. It was not until it began to be noised abroad that a certain John Parkinson would soon produce a new herbal to take its place, that the successors of Gerarde’s original publisher were brought to the point of undertaking a second edition. In 1632 they commissioned Thomas Johnson, a well-known London apothecary and botanist, to carry out the work, with the proviso that it must be accomplished within the year. This heavy task Johnson accomplished with marked success, even adding a balanced and comprehensive historical introduction. He recalls Gaspard Bauhin in his scholarly anticipation of modern methods of editorship. He has, for example, a system of marking the text to distinguish the degrees to which he has altered or re-written Gerarde’s descriptions. Johnson’s new version was illustrated with a set of 2766 blocks, previously used in the botanical works issued by Plantin. The ‘Herball’, thus transformed, reached a far higher level than Gerard’s own edition” (Arberm Herbals).

See Related Record(s): 392 402.1 402.2

Cited references: Garrison & Morton 1820; Waller 11513; Wellcome I #2753; Cushing G195; NLM 17th c. #4667

Gift of John Martin M.D.