Catalogue of Plants Cultivated in the Garden of John Gerard, in the Years 1596–1599

One of a series of paperback re-issues of first or otherwise key editions of important historical works. Part of the Cambridge Library Collection – Life Sciences Series.

For twenty years, the herbalist John Gerard (1545–1612) served as superintendent of the gardens of Elizabeth I’s minister, Lord Burghley. The 1596 edition of Gerard’s Catalogus is probably the first complete catalogue of any one garden, public or private, ever published. Describing his own garden, the list includes frankincense, saffron, an almond tree and even tulips, then exotic and notoriously costly. Probably intended originally only for the interest of Gerard’s friends, and containing numerous errors, it progressed in 1599 into a new, improved edition for a much wider readership. In this book, first published privately in 1876, the botanist Benjamin Daydon Jackson (1846–1927) reproduces both editions, preserving the original errors and adding a memoir of the author that demonstrates the depth of his own research. With the modern names of the plants printed beside their earlier counterparts, Jackson’s text is a fascinating resource for historical botanists and taxonomists.