September 2021 Catalogue

S c i e n c e & M e d i c i n e 4 “The Bible Of English Herbalists,” With Over 2700 Botanical Woodcuts 1. GERARDE, John. The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes Gathered by John Gerarde of London, Master in Chirurgerie. Very much Enlarged and Amended by Thomas Johnson. London, 1633. Thick folio, contemporary dark brown calf rebacked. $11,000. Important second edition—“in every respect immeasurably superior” to the first—of Gerarde’s esteemed Herball, skillfully edited by Thomas Johnson, boasting more than 2700 delicate in-text botanical woodcuts, including the first illustration of bananas to be published in England. First published in 1597, “Gerard’s Herball , if not one of the monuments of the English language, is certainly one of its great delights” (Anderson, 218). “The Bible of English herbalists… [Gerard] wrote with the golden pen of the Elizabethan age” (Blunt & Raphael, 164), bestowing on the plants depicted in his work’s pages such evocative names as “Clown’s Woundwort” and “Traveler’s Joy.” In 1629, John Parkinson, apothecary to the king, announced his intention to produce a herbal that would supersede Gerard’s… [Consequently,] Islip, Norton and Whitakers decided to beat Parkinson to the post by swiftly producing an enlarged and emended edition of the original work which Thomas Johnson, a London apothecary, agreed to undertake.What isusuallyknown as ‘Johnson’s Gerard’ appeared in 1633… Johnson’s Gerard… is half as long again as Gerard, contains 2765 woodcuts… and is in every respect immeasurably superior to its predecessor” (Blunt & Raphael, 166-67). Almost all of the woodcuts were from a different source than Gerarde’s—mostly from Plantin’s stock—but some of the figures Johnson drew himself, notably the famous bunch of bananas on page 1516. Johnson’s drawing is the first illustration of bananas to be published in England. Early owner inscriptions: on *3 by Thomas Crayling, Sheldwich, Kent, and on *5 by C.B. Radway, Ampney Crusis (a village in Gloucestershire). Penciled collation note on front pastedown in the hand of Thomas Thorp. Interior generally clean and fine, engraved title page neatly rehinged, with only minor edge-wear hardly affecting image, light wear to corners. A very good copy of this desirable edition in contemporary calf-gilt covers. Science & Medicine