The gardeners dictionary

The gardeners dictionary : containing the methods of cultivating and improving the kitchen, fruit and flower garden

1731

Ee/1731/M [ De Beer Special Collections]

Printed for the author; and sold by C. Rivington: London

As also, the physick garden, wilderness, conservatory, and vineyard, according to the practice of the most experienc'd gardeners of the present age. Interspers'd with the history of the plants, the characters of each genus, and the names of all the particular species, in Latin and English; and an explanations of all the terms used in botany and gardening. Together with accounts of the nature and use of barometers, thermometers, and hygrometers proper for gardeners; and of the origin, causes and nature of meteors, and the particular influences of air, earth, fire and water upon vegetation, according to the best natural philosophers.

In 1730 Philip Miller was asked by Nathan Bailey, the English lexicographer, to write the botanical entries for the Dictionarium Britannicum. With this prior experience Miller decided to produce his own Gardeners Dictionary (1731), a work that rivalled Bailey's in size, and covered all aspects of gardening (in kitchen- and flower-garden, orchard, greenhouse, and tree plantations), together with descriptions of plants, and essays on horticultural ‘science'. Miller's Gardeners Dictionary (1731) was the first comprehensive garden dictionary in English, and was written just before he became Curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden. It was the most influential gardening book of the 18th century, with readership aimed at the gentry and their head gardeners, clergy, academics and fellow members of the Royal Society. Eight up-dated editions were published before Miller's death in 1771. It weighed nearly 8 kg.

Rivington, Charles

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley