The Lasting Presence of Gerard's Herball

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writing, “…the root champed or chewed procureth spitting, and causeth water and flegme to run forth of the mouth, as Pellitorie of Spain doth” (p.378). In the worn pages of Gerard, I came upon another “old fashioned” plant, Jupiter’s Beard. With a head of flowers atop an erect, stiff, and bristly stalk (all in relief on the block and thus captured in detail in the print), this was not the Jupiter’s beard I knew (Centranthus ruber). Then I remembered a plant my mother-in-law gave me, from her rock garden. I called Catherine on the phone. Did she remember how she acquired it? “Well,” she said. “Edward took care of the garden, and you know, he was a great one for walking around the neighborhood, and if he saw something he liked, he’d take a sample of it.” Edward had collected Gerard’s Sempervivum, from the Latin semper, “always,” and vivo, “live.” The woodcut image of a plant, alive on the pages of Gerard’s Herball, had transformed into the memory of a man, alive forever in my garden. As I looked again at the anemone, considering the 17 th century observations of the same plant, I was reminded that the influence of the medicinal branch of plant study is also evident in the woodcuts used to illustrate Gerard’s herbal. Herbalists are concerned with all parts of a plant that are useful, including the roots. The woodcuts in the herbal almost always present plants singly and in isolation, and all potentially useful parts of each plant are included in a drawing. V. Herbs and medicine A question arises for me at this juncture. Who else read Gerard’s Herball? Who might have plucked a flower, brought it into the house, and confirmed its medicinal properties in this book? My account so far indicates that the botanists and physicians left records—did rural people, women tending gardens, and working farmers read Gerard? 10
The short answer is that we do not really know. Eisenstein reminds us that literacy rates for the period are difficult (if not impossible) to confirm (1979, vol.I). A lack of recorded information inhibits study in this area. Even when records of private book collections are available, often only the number of books, and not their titles, are noted. Further, these collections were recorded only for a limited population of book owners. And book owners were not necessarily book readers. But we can speculate. In his remarks “To the courteous and well willing Readers” (1636), Gerard expresses a genuine respect for the practice of collecting and using plants: …I thought it a chief point of my duty, thus out of my poor store to offer up these my far fetched experiments, together with myne own country’s unknown treasure, combined in this compendium Herball (not unprofitable though unpolished) unto your wise constructions and courteous considerations. The drift whereof is a ready introduction to that excellent art of Simpling, which is neither so base nor contemptible as perhaps the English name may seem to intimate: but such it is, as altogether hath been a study for the wiseth, an exercise for the noblest, a pastime for the best. Gerard is speaking to members of his social class. Because he acknowledges the limitations of his expertise, I suspect he hopes the audience includes people who will not criticize his omissions and mistakes. He also seems sensitive to the fact that the “art of Simpling,” or collecting and using single herbs, may not be pursued by those who believe it is an unsophisticated practice for the uneducated. Gerard clearly believes the opposite. 11
Page 1 and 2: The Lasting Presence of Gerard’s
Page 3 and 4: years. I say “person to person”
Page 5 and 6: and botanist, to undertake the proj
Page 7 and 8: At the same time, Gerard’s Herbal
Page 9: additional information. Or perhaps
Page 13 and 14: like. Wright (1935) notes that in t
Page 15 and 16: a great mixing of people and ideas
Page 17 and 18: inding the signatures. I looked for
Page 19 and 20: their own. People like John Jossely
Page 21: Ioice Norton, and Richard Whitakers

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