GERARDE, John. The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes … Very much Enlarged and Amended by Thomas Johnson Citizen and Apothecarye of London. London: Adam Islip, Joyce Norton, and Richard Whitakers. 1633.
Folio. Contemporary polished calf, double fillets in blind, sometime very skilfully rebacked, spine with raised bands, lettered directly in gilt; pp. [38], 1-30, 29-30, 29-369, 400-401, 373-1630, [1], [1 (blank)] [46 (index and table of errata)], woodcut initials, head-, and tailpieces, engraved title page by John Payne, and nearly 2800 woodcuts in text; corners restored, boards slightly rubbed, extremities a little worn; bound without initial and final blanks, endpaper renewed, corners of title restored, a few leaves with old paper repairs and short closed tears to lower margin (not affecting text), one leaf of table and final errata leaf with paper repairs (also not affecting text), generally very clean, extremely handsome, very good; 19th-century bookseller's ticket "R. Riviere Bookseller … Bath" and modern ticket "R. D. Steedman … Newcastle" to front pastedown.
Second edition, the first to be edited by Thomas Johnson. This work started life as a translation of Dodoens's Stirpium Historiae Pemptades Sex by Dr Robert Priest. After Priest's death, the distinguished herbalist and Master of the Barber-Surgeons' company John Gerarde took over the manuscript. He added English locations, folklore and his own observations on the uses of plants to create the first great English-language herbal. It was impressive in its literary style and was hugely important in its scope, containing the first known illustration of the potato. Its influence spread beyond England, as it formed the basis of medicinal botany for the settlers in the New World. The first edition was published in 1597 and was followed by this revised edition in 1633; Johnson's input was invaluable because Gerarde's rather basic knowledge of Latin had led to some serious errors. Johnson's edition is considered far superior to the first edition because of the improved scholarship.
"…the best-known and most often quoted herbal in the English language. Its lasting repute is due not so much to its originality and accuracy, which are ofttimes questionable, as to its entertaining Elizabethan descriptive style, its interspersed anecdotes and comments, and antique remedies, and its woodcuts" (DSB). Notwithstanding its inaccuracies, the scientific groundwork for the study of medicinal plants that this book represents is still valuable and fascinating.
Nissen 698; Hunt 230.
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