The Gardener’s Dictionary, 1768 – Massive, and still useful!
Philip Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary, 1768
First published in 1731, The Gardener’s Dictionary was republished numerous times — this example dating to 1768. Philip Miller was the authority of the era on all things botanical, stemming from his role as the first head gardener of the famous Chelsea Physic Garden, 1722–1770.
The Chelsea Physic Garden had been developed by noted physician Sir Hans Sloane on land he purchased in Chelsea in 1712. In 1722 he gave the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London a lease on the already established garden for £5 per year in perpetuity — which is why it survives until this day. Amongst other achievements, Hans Sloane was the originator of London’s great collections: the Natural History Museum, the British Library, and the British Museum, to which he bequeathed his collection of 71,000 objects.
Miller’s Dictionary became the defining reference for gardeners across the English-speaking world. Still consulted by historians and horticulturalists today, it is a monument of 18th-century botanical scholarship — massive in scope, and still useful.
