Dear colleagues,   

 

You are cordially invited to a free virtual lecture (20 April 2023 at 12 p.m. EST): “The Earthly Paradise: Recent Botanical Acquisitions at McMaster University Library.”

 

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw a dizzying proliferation of new European books on botany. Driven by interrelated sociopolitical, aesthetic, intellectual, and technological developments, the era was a golden age for sumptuous and lavishly illustrated tomes addressing every conceivable plant-related subject — pharmacology, taxonomy, horticulture, and sylviculture among them. In a heady environment rife with innovation, political and religious controversy, and outright plagiarism, creators and collectors collaborated and competed to take the study and appreciation of plants to new heights — and new audiences. 

 

In recent years, McMaster University Library has acquired several significant works in this tradition, including early editions of Gerard’s Herball, John Parkinson’s Theatrum Botanicum and Paradisi in Sole, Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Natural History, Castore Durante’s Herbario Nuovo, John Evelyn’s Sylva, and a scarce English translation of the Amsterdam Pharmacopoeia. 

 

Join Myron Groover, McMaster’s Archives and Rare Books Librarian, for an intimate look at these stunning artefacts and the contexts in which they were created. 

 

This lecture is hosted by McMaster University Library’s Archives Alive program in partnership with McMaster University Alumni.  

 

Register using this link. Please feel free to share this invitation with other interested parties.   

 

Best wishes,  

 

Gillian