Parkinson (John)

Paradisi in Sole Paradissus Terrestri..., woodcut allegorical title of the Garden of Eden by A. Switzer, a German artist living in England, woodcut portrait of Parkinson facing A1, 110 full-page and three small woodcut text illustrations, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, title frayed, small tears to 2 final leaves, a little soiling and age yellowing, occasional marginalia by an early hand in the Kitchen Garden and Orchard sections, 'Gooseberry Vinegar' recipe on front blank, dated 1740; Ernest Augustus I, King of Hannover (1771-1851, ink stamp to verso of dedication leaf), contemporary speckled calf, expertly re-backed, [STC 19300; ESTC S115360; Cleveland 179; Henrey 282; Hunt 215; Mellon Oak Spring Flora 40; Nissen BBI 1489], folio, Humfrey Lownes & Robert Young, 1629.

*** Parkinson was apothecary and botanist to Charles I. The book is filled with references to contemporary botanists and gardeners, and it provides one of the best single sources of information on gardening practices and styles in early 17th-century England.

Provenance. From the collection of Ernest Augustus, who was the fifth son of King George III of Great Britain.