John Parkinson Theatrum botanicum 1640

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John Parkinson (1567-1650) was the last Englishman to write in the true herbalistic (as opposed to botanical) tradition. His Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, an Herball of Large Extent is the largest herbal in the English language. It described about 3800 plants as compared to 2850 in Johnson's 1633 edition of Gerard. The Theatrum contained the first British record of several native plants, but the numerous woodcut illustrations are mostly inferior reproductions of those in Johnson's edition of Gerard's Herball, although a few are original.

—J. Norman, 2006

John Parkinson. Theatrum botanicum. 1640. Frontis.

John Parkinson. Theatrum botanicum. 1640. Title page.