John Gerard's - The Herball Or Generall Historie of Plantes - 1633

Conditions: full leather binding with gilt title on the spine. Perfect binding. Contemporary ownership signature 'James Bolson me juvat possidet'. Frontispiece and following pages in facsimile, some humidity stains in the introduction, page 1299 missing half, and page 1091 with a torn corner and slight loss of text, as shown in the photo. Some final index pages restored with minor losses.

In excellent overall condition. Thick paper, with more than 2,500 woodcut illustrations of plants, as well as numerous other woodcut decorations, hundreds of which are hand-colored. I have not found any other copies for sale online with colored engravings. Additionally, the former owner extensively corrected and expanded the information related to the plants (as shown in the photo), with handwritten notes on sheets inserted inside.
A splendid copy of one of the most famous English herbaria, here in the second edition of the best version, that of Johnson, 'greatly expanded and modified,' which first appeared in 1633. This enormous herbarium made the barber-surgeon and horticulturist Gerard (1545-1612), famous when his first version appeared in 1597, very well regarded for over 200 years.

Johnson's version is generally recognized as the 'best edition.' Johnson 'corrected many more than Gerard,' simple errors, and improved the accuracy of the illustrations using Plantin's woodcuts. (Caccia). Arber states that the Herball, thus transformed, reached a much higher level than Gerard's edition. In this revised form, the book was still in use and employed in botany lessons until the end of the 18th century.
Hand coloring
Many surviving copies feature the original hand coloring, applied by contemporary owners or colorists to make the woodcuts more vivid and realistic, a common practice for valuable books of the period.
The coloring can vary in style and quality, making each hand-colored copy unique and highly collectible.
In essence, a 'hand-colored' edition of Gerard's Herball refers to a physical book in which the woodcuts printed in black and white were individually painted with colors, often in the 17th century, highlighting its botanical richness.


Condition: full leather binding with gilt title on the spine. Perfect binding.
Contemporary membership signature 'James Bolson me juvat possidet'.
Title page and following facsimile, some damp stains in the introduction.
Page 1299 is half missing, and page 1091 has a torn corner with slight loss of text, as shown in the photo.
Some final index pages restored with slight losses. In excellent general condition.
Thick sheet, with more than 2,500 woodcut illustrations of plants.
as well as numerous other woodcut decorations, hundreds of which were colored by hand.
I have not found any other copies for sale on the web with colored engravings.
Furthermore, the previous owner has extensively corrected and expanded the information related to
The plants (as shown in the photo) with handwritten notes on sheets inserted inside.
A splendid copy of one of the most famous English herbals, here in the second reprint of the best edition.
Johnson's 'much enlarged and modified' version, which first appeared in 1633.
This enormous herbarium made the barber-surgeon and horticulturist Gerard (1545-1612) famous.
when its first version appeared in 1597, and it remained highly regarded for more than 200 years.
Johnson's version is generally recognized as the 'best edition'.
Johnson corrected many more of Gerard's naive errors and improved the accuracy of the illustrations.
by using Plantin's woodcuts.' (Hunting). Arber says that the Herball, thus transformed,
reached a much higher level than Gerard's edition. In this revised form, the book was still current.
and used in botany lessons until the end of the 18th century.
Hand-Coloring
Many surviving copies feature original hand-coloring, applied by contemporary owners or colorists to make the woodcuts more vivid and realistic, a common practice for valuable books of the era.
The coloring can vary in style and quality, making each hand-colored copy unique and highly collectible.
In essence, a 'hand-colored' edition of Gerard's Herball refers to a physical book where the printed black-and-white woodcuts have been individually painted with color, often in the 17th century, enhancing its botanical richness.