# Is "The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes" by John Gerard a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes by John Gerard (John Norton, London, 1597) is identified by: 315 x 210 mm), London: John Norton, 1597. London 1597 is the true first and the census claim is confirmed; there is no competing UK/US or original-language edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 315 x 210 mm), London: John Norton, 1597
- No edition or printing statement, no number line, no jacket; identification rests on the Norton imprint dated 1597 together with collation and completeness
- References: STC 11750
- ESTC S122353
- Henrey 154
- Nissen BBI 698
- Publisher imprint reads John Norton, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Gerard |
| Publisher | John Norton, London |
| Year | 1597 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | 315 x 210 mm), London: John Norton, 1597 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Folio (c. 315 x 210 mm), London: John Norton, 1597. No edition or printing statement, no number line, no jacket; identification rests on the Norton imprint dated 1597 together with collation and completeness. References: STC 11750; ESTC S122353; Henrey 154; Hunt 174; Nissen BBI 698. The engraved pictorial title-page is by William Rogers, signed 'William Rogers Innem et sculps.', with the large woodcut armorial bearings of Lord Burghley on its verso; an engraved portrait of Gerard is also called for, along with woodcut illustrations throughout, including the earliest published depiction of the potato and nearly 200 native plants not previously figured. Complete copies retain the final blank (5E2) and the supplemental English indices, both frequently lacking. No states, issues or cancels within the 1597 printing are documented in any of the sources consulted, so the working checks are completeness and whether the engraved title and portrait are original to the copy: both are very commonly cut down, window-mounted, repaired with loss, supplied from another copy, or facsimile.

## Is this the true first?
London 1597 is the true first and the census claim is confirmed; there is no competing UK/US or original-language edition. Thomas Johnson's revision (London: Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers, 1633) is a first-thus trap rather than a first edition: it is a different and much enlarged text, with a new engraved title-page by John Payne, roughly 2,500 woodcuts against the 1597's smaller complement, some 800 added species and around 700 added figures, plus Johnson's historical introduction. The census is right that the 1633 is bibliographically preferred and that both are collected, but a 1633 must never be catalogued as the first edition of the Herball.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issues exist. The single commonest misidentification is the 1636 reprint of the Johnson edition (same three publishers — Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers; STC 11752; Henrey 156), which reprints the 1633 without alteration and differs essentially only in the date on the title-page; anyone reading the 1636 as a 1633 has the wrong book. Within the Johnson issues, four pages between 30 and 31 are misnumbered 29-30, 29-30 in both 1633 and 1636, so that misnumbering is not a distinguishing point. Modern photographic facsimiles exist and are identified by their own imprints and by modern paper and binding.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes* by John Gerard a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-herball-or-generall-historie-of-plantes
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.