John Parkinson (botanist)

Infobox Scientist
name = John Parkinson


image_width =
caption = An engraving of Parkinson from his monumental work "Theatrum Botanicum" (1640), reprinted in Agnes Arber's "Herbals" (1912).
birth_date = 1567
birth_place =
death_date = Summer Death year and age|1650|1567; buried 6 August 1650
death_place = Probably London, England
residence = London, England
citizenship =
nationality = English
ethnicity =
field = Herbalism and botany
work_institutions =
alma_mater =
known_for = Publishing "Paradisi in Sole, Paradisus Terrestris" (1629) and "Theatrum Botanicum" (1640)
influences =
influenced =
prizes =
religion = Roman Catholic
footnotes =

John Parkinson (1567–1650; buried 6 August 1650) was the last of the great English herbalists and one of the first of the great English botanists. He was apothecary to James I and a founding member of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in December 1617, and was later Royal Botanist to Charles I. He is known for two monumental works, "Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris" ("Park-in-Sun's Terrestrial Paradise", 1629), which generally describes the proper cultivation of plants; and "Theatrum Botanicum" ("The Botanical Theatre" or "Theatre of Plants", 1640), the most complete and beautifully-presented English treatise on plants of its time. One of the most eminent gardeners of his day, he kept a botanical garden at Long Acre in Covent Garden, today close to Trafalgar Square, and maintained close relations with other important English and Continental botanists, herbalists and plantsmen.

Biography

Parkinson, born in 1567, spent his early life in Yorkshire. He moved to London at the age of 14 years to become an apprentice apothecary.cite news|last=Richardson|first=Tim|title=10 best Christmas reads: "Nature's Alchemist: John Parkinson, Herbalist to Charles I" by Anna Parkinson|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/main.jhtml?xml=/gardening/2007/11/30/garden-christmas-book130.xml&page=2|publisher="The Daily Telegraph" ("Gardening")|date=2007-12-01|page=G5] Rising through the ranks, he eventually achieved the position of apothecary to James I, and a founding member of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in December 1617; until 1622 he also served on the Court of Assistants, the Society's governing body. In addition, he assisted the Society in obtaining a grant of arms and in preparing a list of all medicines that should be stocked by an apothecary.cite web|last=Cahill|first=Hugh|title=Book of the month: Paradisi in sole, paradisus terrestri|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/iss/library/speccoll/bomarch/bomapril05.html|publisher=Information Services and Systems, King's College London|month=April | year=2005|accessdate=2007-11-30] He was on the committee that published their "Pharmacopœia Londinensis" ("London Pharmacopœia") in 1618. [cite book|author=Medicorum Collegij Londinensis [College of Physicians of London] |authorlink=Royal College of Physicians|title=Pharmacopœia Londinensis in qua medicamenta antiqua et nova vsitatissima, sedulò collecta, accuratissimè examinata, quotidiana experientia confirmata describuntur. Opera Medicorum Collegij Londinensis. Ex serenissimi Regis mandato cum R.M. Priuilegio [London Pharmacopœia in which are Described the Most Useful Old and New Drugs, Diligently Collected, Very Accurately Examined, Confirmed by Daily Experience. The Work of the College of Physicians of London. By the Mandate of the Very Serene King with (?)R.M. Privilege] |location=London|publisher=Printed by Edwardus [Edward] Griffin for Iohannis [John] Marriot, ad insigne iridis albæ in platea vulgò dicta Fleet-street [at the sign of the white iris in the square commonly called Fleet-street] |year=1618|language=Latin See citation|title=Treasures of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's collections: Pharmacopoeia Londinensis 1618 (the London pharmacopoeia)|url=http://www.pjonline.com/pdf/treasures/pj_20040828_treasures01.pdf|journal=The Pharmaceutical Journal|volume=273|date=2004-08-28|location=London|publisher=Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain|page=299|issn=0031-6873.]

Then, on the cusp of a new science, he became botanist to Charles I.cite web|author=Linh Tran|title=Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants, or, An Herbal of a Large Extent|url=http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cushing/Parkin1.htm|publisher=Texas A&M University Bioinformatics Working Group|accessdate=2007-11-24] Anna Parkinson, a "distant descendant" of Parkinson and the author of a new popular biography of him, asserts that in 1625 when Charles I's bride, Henrietta Maria of France, came at the age of 15 years to live at St. James's Palace, "he took on the role of introducing the young queen to horticulturally sophisticated circles."cite news|last=Parkinson|first=Anna|title=John Parkinson: An ancient alchemist's wisdom print version: Unearthing an ancient alchemist's wisdom|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/main.jhtml?xml=/gardening/2007/11/16/garden-parkinson116.xml|publisher="The Daily Telegraph" ("Gardening")|date=2007-11-17|page=G3] When he summed up his experience in writing "Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris" ("Park-in-Sun's Terrestrial Paradise", 1629 – "Park-in-Sun" is a pun on "Parkinson"), with the explanatory subtitle "A Garden of all sorts of pleasant flowers which our English ayre will permit to be noursed up", it was natural that he dedicated this work, which he called his "Speaking Garden", to the queen. Blanche Henrey called the work the "earliest important treatise on horticulture published in England", [cite book|last=Henrey|first=Blanche|title=British Botanical and Horticultural Literature before 1800: Comprising a History and Bibliography of Botanical and Horticultural Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland from the Earliest Times until 1800|location=London|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1975|isbn=0192115480] while the Hunt catalogue described it as "a very complete picture of the English garden at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and in such delightful, homely, literary style that gardeners cherish it even to the present day." [cite book|last=Hunt|first=Rachel McMasters Miller|title=Catalogue of Botanical Books in the Collection of Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=Maurizio Martino|year= [1991] ]

The work, which describes the proper cultivation of plants in general, was in three sections: the flower garden, the kitchen garden, and the orchard garden. It did not include specific growing instructions for each type of plant, but at the start of each main section Parkinson provided 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 contained illustrations of almost 800 plants in 108 full-page plates. Most of these were original woodcuts made by the German artist Christopher Switzer, but others appear to have been copied from the works of Matthias de Lobel, Charles de l'Écluse and the "Hortus Floridus" [cite book|last=van de Passe|first=Crispijn [the Elder] |title=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] |location=Arnheimij [Arnhem] |publisher=Ioannem Ianssonium [?Jan Janszoon the Elder] |year=1614 [–1617] ] of Crispijn van de Passe the Elder.

In "Paradisi in Sole" Parkinson hinted that he hoped to add a fourth section, a garden of simples (medicinal herbs). He delivered the promise in his other great book, the monumental "Theatrum Botanicum" ("The Botanical Theatre" or "Theatre of Plants") which he published in 1640 at the age of 73 years. The release of this work was delayed due to the popularity of Thomas Johnson's edition of John Gerard's book "The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes" (1597). [cite book|last=Gerard|first=John|authorlink=John Gerard|coauthors=Thomas Johnson (ed.)|title=The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes... Very Much Enlarged and Amended by Thomas Johnson, etc.|url=http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/gerarde/index.html|location=London|publisher=Edm. Bollifant for Bonham Norton and Iohn Norton|year=1597 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:

*cite book|last=Gerard|first=John|coauthors=Marcus Woodward (comp. & ed.)|authorlink=John Gerard|title=Gerard's Herball: The Essence thereof Distilled by Marcus Woodward from the edition of Th. Johnson, 1636|location=London|publisher=Gerald Howe|year=1927
*cite book|last=Gerard|first=John|authorlink=John Gerard|coauthors=Marcus Woodward (comp. & ed.)|title=Gerard's Herball: The Essence thereof Distilled by Marcus Woodward from the Edition of Th. Johnson, 1636|location=London|publisher=Minerva Press|year=1971|isbn=0856360015
*cite book|last=Gerard|first=John|authorlink=John Gerard|coauthors=Thomas Johnson (ed.)|title=The Herbal: Or, General History of Plants|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=Dover Publications|year=1975|isbn=048623147X] "Theatrum Botanicum", with 1,688 pages of text,cite news|last=Wroe|first=Ann|title=Herbalist to the King print version: True to his roots|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/01/17/bopark112.xml|publisher="The Daily Telegraph" ("Review")|date=2008-01-17|page=24] describes over 3,800 plants and was the most complete and beautifully-presented English treatise on plants of its day. It was the first work to describe 33 native plants, 13 of which grew near Parkinson's Middlesex home. Some of these plants, such as the Welsh poppy, the Strawberry Tree and the Lady's Slipper, were very common but had gone unnoticed or at least unrecorded. He intended the book to be a reliable guide for apothecaries, and it remained so for more than a hundred years after his death. Parkinson presented the work to Charles I, who conferred on him the title "Botanicus Regis Primarius" ("Royal Botanist of the First Rank though this came without a salary.

Parkinson actively sought new varieties of plants through his contacts abroad and by financing William Boel's plant-hunting expedition to Iberia and North Africa in 1607–1608. He introduced seven new plants into England and was the first gardener in England to grow the great double yellow Spanish daffodil.

His piety as a Roman Catholic is evident from "Paradisi in Sole". In his introduction, Parkinson saw the botanical world as an expression of divine creation, and believed that through gardens man could recapture something of Eden. Nonetheless, a short French poem [The poem reads:quote|"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."] at the foot of the title page warned the gardener against hubris and in having excessive regard for his efforts, for whoever tries to compare Art with Nature and gardens with Eden "measures the stride of the elephant by the stride of the mite and the flight of the eagle by that of the gnat". However, struggles between Protestants and Catholics compelled Parkinson to keep a low profile. He did not attend any parish church. At the height of his success, the English Civil War (1642–1651) tore his family apart.

Parkinson's London house was in Ludgate Hill, but his botanical garden was in suburban Long Acre in Covent Garden, a district of market-gardens, today close to Trafalgar Square. Not much is known about the garden, but based on a study of the writings of Parkinson and others, John Riddell has suggested [citation|last=Riddell|first=John|title=John Parkinson's Long Acre Garden 1600–1650|journal=Journal of Garden History|volume=6|issue=2|year=1986|pages=112–124.] that it was at least two acres in size and probably surrounded by a wall. Four hundred and eighty-four types of plant are recorded as having been grown in the garden. Thomas Johnson and the Hampshire botanist, John Goodyer, both gathered seeds there.

Parkinson has been called one of the most eminent gardeners of his day. He maintained close relations with other important English and Continental botanists, herbalists and plantsmen such as William Coys, John Gerard, John Tradescant the elder (who was a close friend), Vespasian Robin, and the Frenchman Matthias de Lobel (also known as Matthias de L'Obel or Matthaeus Lobelius). Together, they belonged to the generation that began to see extraordinary new plants coming from the Levant and from Virginia, broadly speaking. In his writings, de Lobel frequently mentioned the Long Acre garden and praised Parkinson's abilities. Parkinson, on his part, edited and presented in "Theatrum Botanicum" the papers of de Lobel, who had spent the final years of his life in Highgate supervising the gardens of Edward la Zouche, the 11th Baron Zouche.

Parkinson died in the summer of 1650, and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 6 August. [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 and Mr. Chris Brooker, Parish Clerk of St Martin-in-the-Fields, on 3 December 2007.] 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", [Later republished in book form as cite book|last=Ewing|first=Juliana Horatia Gatty|authorlink=Juliana Horatia Ewing|title=Mary's Meadow, and Letters from a Little Garden|location=London|publisher=Christian Knowledge Society|year= [1886] See cite web|last=Ewing|first=Juliana Horatia Gatty|authorlink=Juliana Horatia Ewing|title=Mary's Meadow and Letters from a Little Garden|url=http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/ewing/meadow/meadow.html|publisher=A Celebration of Women Writers, Digital Library Projects, University of Pennsylvania Libraries|accessdate=2007-12-01] 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."

Works

*cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|title=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|location=London|publisher=Printed by Hvmfrey Lownes and Robert Yovng at the Signe of the Starre on Bread-Street Hill|year=1629 Folio. In some copies the title page is woodcut; in others it is printed (dated 1635). Later editions and reprints:
**cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|title=Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, or, A Choise Garden of All Sorts of Rarest Flowers with their Nature, Place of Birth, Time of Flowring, 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|location=London|publisher=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|year=1656 Folio.
**cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|coauthors=Alfred H. Hyatt (comp.)|title=A Garden of Pleasant Flowers: Being a Description of the Most Familiar of Our English Garden Flowers from the Famous Collection of John Parkinson|location=London|publisher=T.N. Foulis|year=1904
**cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|title=Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris... Faithfully Reprinted from the Edition of 1629|location=London|publisher=Methuen Publishing|Methuen & Co.|year=1904
**cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|title=Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, etc. [The English Experience; no. 758] |location=Amsterdam; Norwood, N.J.|publisher=Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; Walter J. Johnson|year=1975 Facsimile of the 1629 edition without the letterpress title page, made from copies in the Bodleian Library.
**cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|title=Paradisi in Sole, etc.|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=Dover Publications|year=1976|isbn=0486233928 Facsimile of the 1629 edition.
**cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|title=A Garden of Pleasant Flowers|location=New York, N.Y.; London|publisher=Dover Publications; Constable|year=1976|isbn=0486233928
*cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|title=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 Herbalist. And Published by the Kings Majestyes Especiall Priviledge|location=London|publisher=Thomas Cotes|year=1640 Folio. Reprints:
**cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|title=A Fragment from Theatrum Botanicum, "or An Herball of a Large Extent"|location=Falls Village, Conn.|publisher=Herb Grower Press|year= [1967]
**cite book|last=Parkinson|first=John|title=Theatrum botanicum: Or an Herball of a Large Extente|location= [S.l.] |publisher=Remous|year=1982

Notes

References

*cite web|last=Cahill|first=Hugh|title=Book of the month: Paradisi in sole, paradisus terrestri|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/iss/library/speccoll/bomarch/bomapril05.html|publisher=Information Services and Systems, King's College London|month=April | year=2005|accessdate=2007-11-30
*cite news|last=Parkinson|first=Anna|title=John Parkinson: An ancient alchemist's wisdom print version: Unearthing an ancient alchemist's wisdom|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/main.jhtml?xml=/gardening/2007/11/16/garden-parkinson116.xml|publisher="The Daily Telegraph" ("Gardening")|date=2007-11-17|page=G3

Further reading

*cite book|last=Anderson|first=Frank J.|title=An Illustrated History of the Herbals|location=New York, N.Y.; Guildford|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1977|isbn=0231040024
*cite book|last=Arber|first=Agnes|authorlink=Agnes Arber|title=Herbals: Their Origin and Evolution: A Chapter in the History of Botany, 1470–1670|edition=3rd ed.|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1987|isbn=0521338794 (pbk.)
*cite book|last=Parkinson|first=Anna|title=Nature's Alchemist: John Parkinson – Herbalist to Charles I|location=London|publisher=Frances Lincoln Publishers|year=2007|isbn=0711227675
*cite book|last=Rohde|first=Eleanour Sinclair|authorlink=Eleanour Sinclair Rohde|title=The Old English Herbals|location=New York, N.Y.; London|publisher=Dover Publications; Constable|year= [1990] |isbn=048626193X (pbk.)
*cite book|last=Tomasi|first=Lucia Tongiorgi|title=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|location=Upperville, Va.; New Haven, Conn.|publisher=Oak Spring Garden Library; distributed by Yale University Press|year=1997|isbn=0300071396

Some works listed in this section were obtained from cite web|last=Cahill|first=Hugh|title=Book of the month : Paradisi in sole, paradisus terrestri|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/iss/library/speccoll/bomarch/bomapril05.html|publisher=Information Services and Systems, King's College London|month=April | year=2005|accessdate=2007-11-30

Persondata
NAME = Parkinson, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = English herbalist and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH = 1567
PLACE OF BIRTH =
DATE OF DEATH = Summer 1650; buried 6 August 1650
PLACE OF DEATH = Probably London, England, United Kingdom (buried in St Martin-in-the-Fields, London)