Gerard's Herbal

The herball; or Generall historie of plantes

Gathered by John Gerarde ... very much enlarged and amended by Thomas Johnson ...
London: Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers, 1636
581 G35h1

The Herball, with its engraved title page and meticulously rendered illustrations of plants, is one of the jewels of the Library's collection. The text is a page-for-page reprint of the 1633 edition and most of the 1640 pages are in good condition. There is some writing, but no book plates of previous owners.

This edition of The Herball was also printed by a woman: Joice Norton (also known as Jocosa), the widow of John Norton, who in 1603 was appointed King's Printer of Latin, Greek and Hebrew texts. John Norton printed the original edition of the Herball in 1597. Later the printing licence was assigned to Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers with whom Joice shared all imprints. Joice and Richard issued books from their shop, The Kings Head, in "Pauls" Churchyard from 1626-40.

Pollard's A Short-title catalogue of books... lists Joice Norton as a publisher and that she was unlikely to have engaged in bookselling. The position of women in the printing world in the seventeenth century is unclear. They were certainly not allowed to become members of the Stationer's Company. Sometimes they were allowed, as widows, to take over titles previously owned by their late husbands and occasionally they employed other (male) printers to carry on their business.