
Here Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew Seal have beautifully combined selections from John Parkinson classic book from 1640 with their own modern commentary on how each plant is used today to create a truly one-of-a-kind, comprehensive collection of herbal information old and new. Herbalist to King Charles I, John Parkinson ( was a master apothecary, herbalist, and gardener. Famous in his own lifetime for his influential books, his magnum opus, the Theatrum Botanicum, was published in 1640 and ran to 1,766 large pages. ;it was never reprinted and, centuries later, has attained the status of an extremely rare and valuable book. Parkinson was writing at a time when Western herbalism was at its zenith, and his skills as a gardener (from his grounds in Covent Garden) combined perfectly with his passion for science, observation, and histor