CHAPTER II 



AN OLD HERBAL 



ONE morning, a few years since, I was working in 

 the botanical department of the British Museum 

 of Natural History at South Kensington when the 

 Keeper of Botany came to where I was sitting and 

 whispered that when I was disengaged he had an old 

 book to show me. Crossing over into one of the window 

 recesses, he produced a folio copy of the first edition of 

 Fuchs' History of Plants, published at Basle in the year 

 1542. It was, he said, the most magnificent herbal 

 ever published, and placing it on a desk he proceeded 

 to show me the exquisite woodcuts. I had never seen 

 the work before and was naturally delighted with its 

 beauty and interest. Mr Britten suggested that I 

 should write an article on the Herbal, to which, he said, 

 adequate justice had never been done. 



It was difficult, however, to write an appreciation of a 

 folio volume of 900 pages, enriched with over 500 full- 

 page illustrations, without some further opportunity 

 for careful study, and at the time such opportunity did 

 not present itself. The book is a very scarce one and 

 probably but few copies are to be found in England, 

 and the suggestion, therefore, of the Keeper of Botany 

 for the time fell to the ground. 



It came to pass, however, that some years later I was 

 appointed to a residentiary canonry at Winchester, and 



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