The Lasting Presence of Gerard's Herball

In his dedication to “Sir William Cecil Knight, Baron of Burghley” (1636), Gerard
indicates a desire that his efforts be available to all, that treasures kept to oneself are often
neglected, forgotten, and therefore wasted:
…because gardens are private, and many times finding an ignorant or a negligent
successor, come soon to ruin, there be that have solicited me, first by my pen, and
after by the Press to make my labors common, and to free them from the danger
whereunto a garden is subject…
He includes an appendix of plant names “gathered out of ancient written and printed
copies, and from the mouths of plaine and simple country people” at the back of the
book. Gerard’s comments and the index remind us that many people in both urban and
rural regions of England at this time grew herbs and would appreciate a book describing
their characteristics and virtues.
Most people could not afford a physician. Those in the middle and lower classes who
did seek outside medical advice used apothecaries. By the end of the 16 th century, most
physicians preferred homegrown herbs to the drugs imported by the apothecaries (Hill,
1975). Thomas Johnson was perhaps acting as a medical professional earning a living, as
well as a botanist, when he updated Gerard’s Herball. He was quite possibly responding
to public demand for information. In his preface to the 1633 and 1636 editions, Johnson
notes in closing that “…this knowledge [of the virtues of plants] amongst us in this city
was almost lost, or at least too much neglected, especially by those to whom it did chiefly
belong, and who ought to be ashamed of ignorance, especially in a thing so absolutely
necessary to their profession.” He is speaking to “my loving friends and fellow
Travellers…of the same profession”—apothecaries, barber surgeons, botanists, and the
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