The herball or Generall historie of plantes. Gathered by Iohn Gerarde of London Master in Chirurgerie very much enlarged and amended by Thomas Iohnson citizen and apothecarye of London.
London: Printed by Adam Islip Ioice Norton and Richard Whitakers, 1633.
Price: $8,500.00
About the item
Second edition overall and first Johnson edition. Engraved title, woodcut illustrations. [38], 1630, [50] pp. Lacks preliminary and terminal blanks, as usual. 1 vols. Folio. Full panelled calf, expertly rebacked. ESTC S122165; Hunt 223; Nissen 698; Henrey 155.
Item #323387
"This is the first edition enlarged and edited by Thomas Johnson (1595-1644) who corrected many of Gerard's more gullible errors, and improved the accuracy of the illustrations by using Plantin's woodcuts" (Hunt). "So great had been the progress of botany in the thirty-six years since Gerard's original publication, that Johnson added over eight hundred new species to the list, and seven hundred figures, besides numerous corrections. The work, which contains about 2,850 descriptions, is commonly known by the name 'Gerarde emaculatus,' given to it by Ray. Johnson seems, however, to have completed it in a year" (DNB).
