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John Gerard, also spelt John Gerarde, (c. 1545–1612) was a botanist and herbalist.〔ODNB: Marja Smolenaars, "Gerard, John (c.1545–1612)" (Retrieved 22 April 2014. )〕 He maintained a large herbal garden in London. His chief notability is as the author of a big – 1484 pages – and heavily illustrated ''Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes''. First published in 1597, it was the most widely circulated botany book in English in the 17th century. Except for the additions of a number of plants from his own garden and from North America, Gerard's ''Herbal'' is largely an English translation of Rembert Dodoens's ''Herbal'' of 1554, itself also highly popular (in Dutch, Latin, French and other English translations). Gerard's ''Herball'' is profusely illustrated with high-quality drawings of plants, with the printer's woodcuts for the drawings largely coming from Dodoens's book and from other Continental European sources,〔An introduction to Gerarde's ''Herball: A Generall Historie of Plants'': (Virginia.Edu ). Similarly in entry "Botany" in (''The Penny Cyclopedia'' ). See also (''Dodonaeus in Japan'' ) (year 2001) pp. 37-38. The situation is reported a little differently in ("A short history of the ''Herbal'' of John Gerard" ), where Gerard's knowledge is said to have lacked depth and he essentially compiled from others, but not exclusively from the Dodoens source. See also Rembert Dodoens and Carolus Clusius.〕 but also containing an original title page with copperplate engraving by William Rogers. Two decades after Gerard's death, his ''Herbal'' was corrected and expanded to about 1700 pages. The botanical genus ''Gerardia'' is named in Gerard's honour. ==Life== Gerard was born at Nantwich, where he received his early and only schooling. Around the age of 17 he was apprenticed as a barber-surgeon. Although he claimed to have learned much about plants from travelling to other parts of the world, his actual travels appear to have been limited. For example, at some time in his later youth, he is reputed to have made one trip abroad, possibly as a ship’s surgeon on a merchant ship sailing around the North Sea.〔Anna Pavord (2005): ''The Naming of Names'', p. 336.〕 In 1577, he began to supervise the London gardens of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. By 1595, Gerard had become a member of the Court of Assistants in the Barber-Surgeon's Company. By 1595, he was spending much time commuting from the court to his gardens in the suburb of Holborn, and attending to his duties for Burghley. In 1597, he was appointed junior warden of the Barber-Surgeons, and in 1608, master of the same. Gerard was a doer, not a thinker, and an outsider in relation to the community of Lime Street naturalists in London at the time.〔Deborah Harkness (2007): ''The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution'', pp. 51–55.〕 His somewhat flawed (from the perspective of some of his contemporaries) ''Herball'' is dedicated to Burghley. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Gerard」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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