John Gerard Popular Books
John Gerard Biography & Facts
John Gerard (also John Gerarde, 1545–1612) was an English herbalist with a large garden in Holborn, now part of London. His 1,484-page illustrated Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes, first published in 1597, became a popular gardening and herbal book in English in the 17th century. Except for some added plants from his own garden and from North America, Gerard's Herbal is largely a plagiarised English translation of Rembert Dodoens's 1554 herbal, itself highly popular in Dutch, Latin, French and other English translations. Gerard's Herball drawings of plants and the printer's woodcuts are mainly derived from Continental European sources, but there is an original title page with a copperplate engraving by William Rogers. Two decades after Gerard's death, the book was corrected and expanded to about 1,700 pages. Life Early life and education Gerard was born at Nantwich, Cheshire, towards the end of 1545, receiving his only schooling at nearby Willaston, about two miles away. Nothing is known of his parentage, but the coat of arms on his Herball implies he was a member of the Gerards of Ince. Around the age of 17, in 1562, he became an apprentice to Alexander Mason (died 3 April 1574), a barber-surgeon of the Barber–Surgeon's Company (Company of Barbers and Surgeons) in London. Mason had a large surgical practice and had twice held the rank of Warden in the company, and later became Master. Gerard did well there, and was admitted to freedom of the company on 9 December 1569 and permitted to open his own practice. Although he claimed to have learned much about plants from travelling to other parts of the world (see for instance a letter to Lord Burghley in 1588), his actual travels appear to have been limited. For example, at some time in his later youth, he is said to have made one trip abroad, possibly as both a ship's surgeon and captain's lover on a merchant ship sailing around the North Sea and Baltic, for he refers to both Scandinavia and Russia in his writings. Later life, family and death Gerard married Anne (or possibly Agnes), who died in 1620, and by her had five children, of whom only one, Elizabeth, survived them. He spent his entire adult life in London, close to Barnards Inn, between Chancery Lane and Fetter Lane. It is thought he resided in a tenement with a garden belonging to Lord Burghley. After his death in February 1612, he was buried at St Andrews, Holborn on 18 February, but the grave is unmarked. Career Gerard had a successful career with the Barber–Surgeons' Company. He became a member of the Court of Assistants (board of directors) on 19 June 1595, despite being accused of defaming the wife of a colleague in 1578. He was made an examiner of candidates for admission to the freedom of the company on 15 January 1598 and Junior Warden in August 1597, under the mastership of George Baker. Following a further dispute with a senior warden, he relinquished his positions of "second warden and upper governor" on 26 September 1605, but this was resolved and on 17 August 1607 he was elected Master of the company. In the Annals of the company, published in 1890, a biography of Gerard appears under a list of "Eminent Members". While studying he developed the tenement garden in the suburb of Holborn, London, which he refers to frequently in his work, and later published a catalogue of the flowers there. This became popular and he received gifts of seeds and plants from around the world. He also received offers to supervise the gardens of noblemen. In 1577, he began work as superintendent at the gardens of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (Lord Burghley, the queen's Lord High Treasurer) at the Strand and Theobalds, Hertfordshire, a position he continued in for more than 20 years. In 1586, the College of Physicians established a physic garden with Gerard as curator, a position he held till 1604. In 1588, Burghley was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and Gerard wrote to him commending himself as a suitable superintendent of the university botanic garden, writing "to signe for ye University of Cambridge for planting of gardens". Amongst his qualifications he wrote "by reason of his travaile into farre countries his great practise and long experience". There is no evidence for the travel claim and nothing seems to have come of his application. By 1595, when he was appointed to the Court of Assistants, he had built up a reputation as a skilled herbalist and spent much time commuting from the Court to the garden he founded close to his cottage in Holborn, and also attending to his duties for Burghley. In 1596 he requested that the Barber–Surgeons' Company establish a physic garden ("Mr. Gerrard's garden") in East Smithfield, but this was not done. It was reported that Queen Elizabeth held his achievements in high regard. In 1604 he was granted a lease on a garden adjoining Somerset House, by Anne, the queen consort to King James I, but the following year relinquished it to Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, second son of Lord Burghley, in which he was described as "herbarist" to James I. According to Anna Pavord, Gerard was a doer and not a scholar. Deborah Harkness notes that Gerard was not part of the community of Lime Street naturalists in London at the time. His flawed (from the perspective of some of his contemporaries) Herball is dedicated to Burghley. He surrounded himself with influential friends and contacts, including Lancelot Browne, George Baker, and the apothecaries James Garrett, Hugh Morgan and Richard Garth. Garret was a Huguenot living and working in London, and a neighbour of the Flemish botanist Matthias de l'Obel (also known as Lobelius). Many of these had fine gardens and would exchange plants. Garth, who described Gerard as "a worshipful gentleman and one that greatly delighteth in strange plants" had South American contacts from where he would import rarities. He also exchanged plants with Clusius and cultivated a certain "Captain Nicholas Cleet of the Turky Company" from whom he obtained specimens from the Middle East. He would also visit other collectors and nurserymen such as Richard Pointer of Twickenham, Master Fowle, keeper of the queen's house at St. James and Master Huggens, keeper of the garden at Hampton Court. His servant, William Marshall travelled to the Mediterranean on his behalf and Jean Robin, the French king's gardener sent him seeds. After his death in February 1612 he was buried at the parish church of St Andrews, Holborn. Work Catalogue of Plants 1596 Gerard's 1596 Catalogue (Catalogus arborum, fruticum, ac plantarum tam indigenarum, quam exoticarum, in horto Johannis Gerardi civis et chirurgi Londinensis nascentium) is a list of 1,039 rare plants he cultivated in his garden at Holborn, where he introduced exotic plants from the New World, including a plant he misidentified as Yucca. The Yucca failed to bloom in his lifetime, but a pip taken from the plant later bloomed for a contemporary. To this d.... Discover the John Gerard popular books. 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Best Seller John Gerard Books of 2024
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Answering Back
Professor Carol Ann Duffy DBECarol Ann Duffy has invited fifty of her peers to choose and respond to a poem from the past. With upandcoming poets alongside more established names, and original poems alongside ...
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The Anatomy of Liverpool
Jonathan Wilson, Jonathan Wilson Ltd & Scott MurrayJonathan Wilson and Scott Murray provide a forensic analysis of ten key Liverpool games that have shaped the club's fortunes over the last century: from the longlost triumphs of To...
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The Wright Stuff
Rick GlanvillIan Wright is one of the English game's great football heroes. He is an England international and the leading marksman and trophywinner for Arsenal. Yet he also regularly collects ...
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As Kingfishers Catch Fire
Eugene H. PetersonLiving Out the Word Made Flesh “Sixty years ago I found myself distracted,” Eugene Peterson wrote. “A chasm had developed between the way I was preaching from the pulpit and...
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Stressed, Unstressed
Jonathan Bate, Paula Byrne, Sophie Ratcliffe & Andrew SchumanCan you be relit by poetry? This little book offers everyone one of the oldest of all remedies for stress: the reading of poetry.Intended to help you endure some of your stressful ...
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Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 11
Maxim JakubowskiThis superb annual anthology of the year’s most outstanding short crime fiction published in the UK is now well into its second decade. Jakubowski has succeeded, once again, in une...
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The Vain Elephant Girl and Other Stories
John Gerard SapodillaA selection of short stories. Humour, thriller, surrealism, true tales, crazyness and a pinch of eros.Thin rings of smoke rise like a spiral staircase from the cigar of Evaristo, w...
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The Miracle of Life
Jan de VriesIn this controversial book Jan de Vries considers modern miracles as well as the 'miracle of Lourdes'. He discusses witch doctors and what he has personally witnessed in th...
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Mind the Roses
John Gerard SapodillaUncle MichelinoBorn in Pellezzano di Salerno from an affluent family in a very poor world, my uncle Michelino had known happy days before the failure of his father's flask factory....
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Lola e Altri Ricordi
John Gerard SapodillaRacconti Brevi. Umorismo. Favole.Fantasia. Thriller, SurrealismoLola.Poi ho avuto modo di conoscere un altro pappagallo, nella jungla, a Iquitos Amazon Lodge. Era una femmina e si ...
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Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Spell of John Duns Scotus
John LlewelynThe early medieval Scottish philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus shook traditional doctrines of universality and particularity by arguing for a metaphysics of 'formal distin...
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Rosa e Ferdinando
John Gerard SapodillaRosa e Ferdinando. La spedizione trionfale di Giuseppe Garibaldi alla conquista del Regno delle Due Sicilie è l’evento che fa nascere l’Italia Unita dopo secoli di divisioni. Nella...
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The Memories of Countess Margherite
John Gerard SapodillaArmand and Margherite. The diary of Countess Margherite during the French Revolution.Preliminaries being exhausted, she went straight to the point.── Friar Rosemary, I am possessed...
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Poetry 101
Susan DalzellBecome a poet and write poetry with ease with help from this clear and simple guide in the popular 101 series. Poetry never goes out of style. An ancient writing form found in civi...
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Le Memorie di Margherite Dupont Soleil
John Gerard SapodillaTimida e orgogliosa, Margherite, contessa Dupont Soleil, è costretta a un matrimonio di interesse con Armand Lucas, vignaiolo e commerciante di vini arricchito. Una unione agitata ...
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The Misadventures of Shylock Hapless
John Gerard Sapodilla(from Shylock Hapless and the Case of the Missing Piglets)My dear Hapless,I am obliged to write to you by an unfortunate, indeed I may say painful, occurrence.The piglets are disap...
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Error of Judgement
Chris Mullin'Very occasionally a journalist starts an avalanche with a single gunshot... Chris Mullin and his TV colleagues belong in the glorious company."The Observer'One of the greatest fea...
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Sigaro Avana e Altri Racconti
John Gerard Sapodilla“Mi state soffocando la mia Ciliegia Rossa, buoni a nulla. Sciogliete il sacco.”Venne fuori la testa della madre di Ciliegia Rossa, la donna guardò il suo rapitore e gli disse:“Ade...
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La Vittima Sconosciuta
John Gerard SapodillaRacconti Gialli e Humour NeroSigaro AvanaMi ero fermato solo per accendere il sigaro nel modo giusto, ma la ragazza non lo poteva sapere, aveva pensato che l’avessi vista nascosta ...
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The Penguin Book of Elegy
Prof Stephen Regan & Andrew Motion'A tremendous sentimental education of a book ... a literary adventure ... chosen with a scholarly discernment mixed with a wildcard flair ... fascinating and unignorable' Kate Kel...
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Le Avventure di Joe e Zia Martha
John Gerard SapodillaLe Avventure di Joe e Zia MarthaRacconti breviJoe e Zia Martha vivono nel profondo sud degli States, ma potete trovare una coppia come questa in ogni parte del mondo. A zia Martha ...
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Catholic Voting and Mortal Sin
John Gerard LewisCatholic doctrine teaches that if a person dies in a state of mortal sin, then that person will spend eternity in hell. But nearly all Catholics don't know that they can commit a m...
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Frieda And Min
Pamela JoosteWhen Frieda first met Min, with her golden hair and ivory bones, what struck her most was that Min was wearing a pair of African sandals, the sort made out of old car tyres. She wa...
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People State New York v. John Gerard Sullivan
Supreme Court of New YorkAppeal (1) from a judgment of the County Court, Queens County, convicting appellant of robbery in the first degree, grand larceny in the second degree, and assault in th...
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Il Caso dei Porcelli Mancanti. Shylock Hapless Investigatore.
John Gerard SapodillaShylock Homeless e il Caso dei Porcelli Mancanti(da Il Caso dei Porcelli Mancanti)Mio caro Hapless,mi vedo costretto a scriverti per un evento increscioso, preferirei definirlo dol...
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Phoebe Wants to Become a Witch
John Gerard Sapodilla“May I come in Madam Witch?"“Come in. The door’s open.” said the Masterwitch as she stirred the slimy disgusting concoction, that was bubbling in the black cauldron over the fire, ...