John Parkinson (botanist)
John Parkinson | |
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Herbalism and botany |
John Parkinson (1567–1650; buried 6 August 1650) was the last of the great English
Life
Parkinson, born in 1567, spent his early life in
Then, on the cusp of a new science, he became
Parkinson actively sought new varieties of plants through his contacts abroad and by financing William Boel's plant-hunting expedition to
His piety as a
Parkinson's London house was in
Parkinson has been called one of the most eminent gardeners of his day. He maintained close relations with other important English and
Parkinson died in the summer of 1650, and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 6 August.[13] He is commemorated in the Central American genus of leguminous trees Parkinsonia. Paradisi in Sole also inspired the children's writer Juliana Horatia Ewing (1841–1885) to write the story Mary's Meadow,[14] which was first published from November 1883 to March 1884 in Aunt Judy's Magazine (1866–1885), produced by her mother Margaret Gatty. In the story, some children read Paradisi in Sole and are inspired to create their own garden. The magazine received much favourable correspondence about the story, and in July 1884 it was suggested that a Parkinson Society should be formed. The objects of the society were to "search out and cultivate old garden flowers which have become scarce; to exchange seeds and plants; to plant waste places with hardy flowers; to circulate books on gardening amongst the Members... [and] to try to prevent the extermination of rare wild flowers, as well as of garden treasures."[3]
Work
Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris describes the proper cultivation of plants in general, and is in three sections: the flower garden, the kitchen garden, and the orchard garden. It does not include specific growing instructions for each type of plant, but at the start of each main section Parkinson provides instructions on "ordering" each type of garden, advising on situating and laying out a garden, tools, soil improvement, grafting, planting and sowing and the types of plants that should be included in each type of garden. It contains illustrations of almost 800 plants in 108 full-page plates. Most of these were original
In Paradisi in Sole Parkinson hinted that he hoped to add a fourth section, a garden of simples (medicinal herbs).
Published works
- Parkinson, John (1629). Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris: Or A Garden of All Sorts of Pleasant Flowers which our English Ayre will Permitt to be Noursed Vp. With a Kitchen Garden of All Manner of Herbes, Rootes, & Fruites, for Meate or Sause Vsed with Vs, and an Orchard of All Sorte of Fruitbearing Trees and Shrubbes Fit for Our Land. Together with the Right Orderinge, Planting & Preserving of Them and Their Uses and Vertues Collected by Iohn Parkinson Apothecary of London. London: Printed by Hvmfrey Lownes and Robert Yovng at the Signe of the Starre on Bread-Street Hill. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.7100. Retrieved 29 December 2014. Folio. In some copies the title page is woodcut; in others it is printed (dated 1635).
- Later editions and reprints
- Parkinson, John (1635) [1629]. Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, Or A Garden of All Sorts of Pleasant Flowers which Our English Ayre Will Permit to be Noursed Up ... Together with the Right Ordering, Planting, and Preserving of Them; and Their Uses and Vertues. London: Tho[mas] Cotes and are to be sold by Robert Allot.
- Parkinson, John (1656). Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, or, A Choise Garden of All Sorts of Rarest Flowers with their Nature, Place of Birth, Time of Flowering, Names, and Vertues to Each Plant, Useful in Physic or Admired for Beauty: To which is Annext a Kitchin-Garden Furnished with All Manner of Herbs, Roots, and Fruits, for Meat or Sauce Used with Us, with the Art of Planting an Orchard... All Unmentioned in Former Herbals. London: Printed by R.N. and are to be sold by Richard Thrale at his shop at the signe of the Cross-Keys at S. Pauls-gate, going into Cheap-side. Folio.
- Parkinson, John; Alfred H. Hyatt (1904). A Garden of Pleasant Flowers: Being a Description of the Most Familiar of Our English Garden Flowers from the Famous Collection of John Parkinson. London: T. N. Foulis.
- Parkinson, John (1904). Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris... Faithfully Reprinted from the Edition of 1629. London: . Retrieved 29 December 2014.
- Parkinson, John (1975). Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, etc. [The English Experience; no. 758]. Amsterdam; Norwood, N.J.: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; Walter J. Johnson. Facsimile of the 1629 edition without the letterpress title page, made from copies in the Bodleian Library.
- Parkinson, John (1976). Paradisi in Sole, etc. New York, N.Y.: ISBN 0-486-23392-8. Facsimile of the 1629 edition.
- Parkinson, John (1976). A Garden of Pleasant Flowers. New York, N.Y.; London: ISBN 0-486-23392-8.
- Parkinson, John (1640). Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent: Containing therein a More Ample and Exact History and Declaration of the Physicall Herbs and Plants that are in Other Authours, Encreased by the Accesse of Many Hundreds of New, Rare, and Strange Plants from All the Parts of the World, with Sundry Gummes, and Other Physicall Materials, than hath beene hitherto Published by Any before; and a Most Large Demonstration of their Natures and Vertues. Shevving vvithall the Many Errors, Differences, and Oversights of Sundry Authors that have Formerly Written of Them; and a Certaine Confidence, or most Probable Conjecture of the True and Genuine Herbes and Plants. Distributed into Sundry Classes or Tribes, for the More Easie Knowledge of the Many Herbes of One Nature and Property, with the Chiefe Notes of Dr. Lobel, Dr. Bonham, and Others Inserted therein. Collected by the Many Years Travaile, Industry, and Experience in this Subject, by Iohn Parkinson Apothecary of London, and the Kings Herbarist. And Published by the Kings Majestyes Especiall Priviledge. London: Thomas Cotes. Folio. Reprints:
- Parkinson, John (1967). A Fragment from Theatrum Botanicum, "or An Herball of a Large Extent". Falls Village, Conn.: Herb Grower Press.
- Parkinson, John (1982). Theatrum botanicum: Or an Herball of a Large Extente. [S.l.]: Remous.
Notes
- OCLC 8591273.
- ^ a b Richardson, Tim (1 December 2007). "10 best Christmas reads: Nature's Alchemist: John Parkinson, Herbalist to Charles I by Anna Parkinson". The Daily Telegraph (Gardening). p. G5. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cahill, Hugh (April 2005). "Book of the month: Paradisi in sole, paradisus terrestri". Information Services and Systems, King's College London. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
- ISSN 0031-6873..
- ^ a b Linh Tran. "Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants, or, An Herbal of a Large Extent". Texas A&M University Bioinformatics Working Group. Retrieved 24 November 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f Parkinson, Anna (17 November 2007). "John Parkinson: An ancient alchemist's wisdom [print version: Unearthing an ancient alchemist's wisdom]". The Daily Telegraph (Gardening). p. G3. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013.
- ISBN 0-19-211548-0.
- ^ Hunt, Rachel McMasters Miller (1991). Catalogue of Botanical Books in the Collection of Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt. New York, N.Y.: Maurizio Martino.
- ^ Parkinson 1629, p.103 .
- ^ The poem reads:
Qui vent parangonner l'artifice a Nature
Et nos pares a l'Eden indiscret il mesure.
Le pas de l'Elephant par le pas du ciron,
Et de l'Aiglele vol parcil du mouscheron. - ^ a b c Wroe, Ann (17 January 2008). "Herbalist to the King [print version: True to his roots]". The Daily Telegraph (Review). p. 24. Archived from the original on 3 February 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- .
- ^ There is no extant memorial to Parkinson at St Martin-in-the-Fields. The present church was completed in 1726 and in the process records of the locations of all original burials were lost. Ledger slabs from earlier memorials exist, but James Gibbs, the architect of the new church building, used them as paving stones and there is no clear record of which slab is where: personal e-mail communication between Jacklee and Mr. Chris Brooker, Parish Clerk of St Martin-in-the-Fields, on 3 December 2007.
- ^ Later republished in book form as Ewing, Juliana Horatia Gatty (1886). Mary's Meadow, and Letters from a Little Garden. London: Christian Knowledge Society. See Ewing, Juliana Horatia Gatty. "Mary's Meadow and Letters from a Little Garden". A Celebration of Women Writers, Digital Library Projects, University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Retrieved 1 December 2007.
- ^ van de Passe, Crispijn [the Elder] (1614–1617). Hortus floridus in quo rariorum & minus vulgarium florum icones ad vivam varamq[ue] formam accuratissime delineatae et secundum quatuor anni tempora divisae exhibentur incredibili labore ac diligentia Crisp. Passaei junioris delineatae ac suum in ordinem redactae [Floral Garden in which are Exhibited Images of Rather Rare and Less Common Flowers, in Living and True Form, Delineated Very Accurately and Divided According to the Four Seasons of the Year, Exhibited by the Unbelievable Labour and Diligence of Crispus Passaeus the Younger, Delineated and Brought Back into their Own Order]. Arnheimij [Arnhem]: Ioannem Ianssonium [?Jan Janszoon the Elder].
- ^ Gerard, John (1597). Thomas Johnson (ed.). The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes... Very Much Enlarged and Amended by Thomas Johnson, etc. London: Edm. Bollifant for Bonham Norton and Iohn Norton. Later editions were published in 1630 (publisher and place of publication unknown), and 1633 and 1636 (London: Adam Islip, Ioice Norton and Richard Whitakers). The book has been republished in the following versions:
- Gerard, John (1927). Marcus Woodward (ed.). Gerard's Herball: The Essence thereof Distilled by Marcus Woodward from the edition of Th. Johnson, 1636. London: Gerald Howe.
- ISBN 0-85636-001-5.
- ISBN 0-486-23147-X.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. John Parkinson.
References
- Cahill, Hugh (April 2005). "Book of the month: Paradisi in sole, paradisus terrestri". Information Services and Systems, King's College London. Archived from the original on 26 May 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2007.
- Parkinson, Anna (17 November 2007). "John Parkinson: An ancient alchemist's wisdom [print version: Unearthing an ancient alchemist's wisdom]". The Daily Telegraph (Gardening). p. G3. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013.
Gallery
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John Parkinson marble by Léon-Joseph Chavalliaud (1899), outside the Palm House at Sefton Park, Liverpool
Further reading
- Anderson, Frank J. (1977). An Illustrated History of the Herbals. New York, N.Y.; Guildford: ISBN 0-231-04002-4.
- ISBN 0-521-33879-4.
- Cahill, Hugh. "The Later Herbals". Exhibitions. King's College London. Information Services and Systems. Archived from the original on 16 October 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
- Parkinson, Anna (2007). Nature's Alchemist: John Parkinson – Herbalist to Charles I. London: ISBN 978-0-7112-2767-5.
- ISBN 0-486-26193-X.
- Tomasi, Lucia Tongiorgi (1997). An Oak Spring Flora: Flower Illustration from the Fifteenth Century to the Present Time: A Selection of the Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Works of Art in the Collection of Rachel Lambert Mellon. Upperville, Va.; New Haven, Conn.: Oak Spring Garden Library; distributed by ISBN 0-300-07139-6.
Some works listed in this section were obtained from Cahill, Hugh (April 2005). "Book of the month : Paradisi in sole, paradisus terrestri". Information Services and Systems, King's College London. Archived from the original on 26 May 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2007.
External links
- Works by John Parkinson at Faded Page (Canada)