Quotes:Gerard, John

Zirkoff, Boris

Gerard, John. English herbalist; b. at Nantwich, Cheshire, 1545; d. February, 1611 (or 1612). Family connected with the Gerards of Ince. Went to school at Willastone; studied medicine; travelled in Scandinavia, Russia, poss. on the Mediterranean. Apprenticed, 1562, to Alexander Mason, surgeon; admitted to the Barber-Surgeons’ Company, 1569. Elected, 1595, member of the Court of Assistants of that body; already known then as an 373 herbalist, with a large garden of herbs at Holborn. Published, 1596, first catalog of plants in a garden. Made, 1597, Junior Warden of the Company, and Master of it in 1607. In 1597 appeared his famous Herball (London: J. Norton), illustrated with 1800 woodcuts; new editions were publ. in 1633 and 1636. Gerard was “herbarist”to King James I.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 7, pp. 372-373