1756 The British Herbal, by John Hill. Folio. 74 of 75 full-page illustrations.

This copy of The British Herbal, by Dr. Hill, is bound very-well and would be a great choice for a working copy. It isn't so nice that you'd be scared to peruse the book; the book shows signs of being previously used and annotated, but is stoutly bound and would accommodate much further use. It's large size and full-page illustrations make it an imposing and enjoyable herbal to peruse.

About the Work -

With 74 (of 75, lacks plate 24) full page illustrations of British plants and trees.

The Royal Collection Trust describes this work as -

Hill’s British Herbal grew out of his earlier work, The Useful Family Herbal (1754), which gave instructions for gathering and preserving roots, flowers and herbs, recipes of medicines and other useful household applications of herbal lore. Hill’s British Herbal provided an authoritative work for the amateur plant lover with an interest in plants for both medical and ornamental purposes, but with little technical knowledge.

(Hill) continued to use the older names and taxonomies, rather than the new methods of categorising pioneered by Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who laid the foundation for modern plant description (a frequent comment in the work is ‘Linnaeus places this …’, usually followed by Hill’s own, different, opinion). Linnaeus’s colleague Peter Collinson wrote to him in May 1756: ‘Dr. Hill is publishing a history of plants, of which I send you a specimen. As he proceeds through the genuses, he criticizes your method, but not like the foul-mouthed Germans. He treats you like an Englishman, with decency and good manners.’ Hill had evidently some sympathy with Linnaeus’s views.

About the Author -

John Hill was the son of the Rev. Theophilus Hill and is believed to have been born in Peterborough: he was baptised on 17 November 1714. He was apprenticed to an apothecary and on the completion of his apprenticeship he set up in a small shop in St Martin's Lane, Westminster. He also travelled over the country in search of rare herbs, with a view to publishing a hortus siccus, but the plan failed.

He obtained the degree of M.D. from the University of St. Andrews at a time when its fortunes were at a low ebb, and practised as a quack doctor, making considerable sums by the preparation of dubious herb and vegetable medicines.

Physical Attributes -

Book measures approx. 43 x 28 x 5.5 cm. Folio. Dark-red leather spine and corners, edges with double blind fillets. Spine with five raised bands rolled with a gilt roll tool; five compartments with a central medallion, and one compartment with the title in gilt.

Pages - frontis, iv, 533, [3], 74 of 75 illustrated plates

Collation - frontis, A-Z2, Aa-Zz2, Aaa-Zzz2, 4A-4Z2, 5A-5Z2, 6A-6U2, 74 plates

Worldcat OCLC number - 4310218, not rare; found in many of the world's best libraries.

Condition -

See pictures. Fresh re-bind, well-executed. The book is ready (with care) for many more generations of use. Binding has a little fading to marbled boards; it wasn't executed yesterday, but recently. The lack of plate 24 is noted, in graphite, on about every blank endpaper and the recto of the frontis. The book has some toning throughout, with occasional foxing. There are dog-eared corners, thumb marks, annotations and etc.; it is a copy that has been used. There are some leaves with small edge chips and/or tears, and others with fold marks. All of the illustrated plates have graphite notes referencing which pages they refer to (for descriptions). A small worm track from Bb1-(approx.),Ii2. Desptie notes, a large, handsomely illustrated work, which is bound well and is ready for future generations. Lacks plate 24.