On Display in the State Library

With its warming temperatures and sprouting blooms, April has been designated by the National Garden Bureau as National Garden Month. To mark this month-long celebration of spring, currently on display in the library’s reading room is a nearly 300-year-old text that would serve as a useful reference for every gardener. Visit us to see volume one of The Gardeners Dictionary: Containing the Best and Newest Methods of Cultivating and Improving the Kitchen, Fruit, Flower Garden, and Nursery by Philip Miller and published in London in 1759. 

The Gardeners Dictionary was an often-cited reference source compiled by botanist Philip Miller (1691-1771). According to the description on the title page, Miller was “gardener to the worshipful company of apothecaries, at their botanic garden in Chelsea, and member of the Botanick Academy at Florence.” Miller served as the head gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden (also known as the Apothecaries’ Garden) in London from 1722 until his retirement in 1770. Through the publishing of his dictionary, he is also regarded as one of the top horticultural writers of the eighteenth century. One could say that his profession ran in his blood, as his father was a gardener, and his two sons were also botanists. 

The two-volume set in the State Library’s collection is the seventh edition, which as noted on the title page was “revised and altered according to the latest system of botany; and embellished with several copper-plates, which were not in the former editions.” In total, there were eight editions published during Miller’s lifetime, with the first edition dating to 1731. These volumes are incredibly comprehensive, as indicated by the full title: The Gardeners Dictionary: Containing the best and newest methods of cultivating and improving the kitchen, fruit, flower garden, and nursery, as also for performing the practical parts of agriculture: including the management of vineyards, with the methods of making and preserving the wine, according to the present practice of the most skilful vignerons in the several wine countries in Europe. Together with directions for propagating and improving, for real practice and experience, all sorts of timber trees. Within the pages are an explanation of technical terms, a listing of the other works and authors that Miller consulted for this publication, and some drawings. But the bulk of the book is an alphabetical listing of plants, along with descriptive information, origin and varieties, and care instructions. While the version in our collection has not been digitized, you can access the full text of the dictionary through the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

We have displayed the book open to its frontispiece and title page. The frontispiece is a beautiful drawing depicting Nature, Industry, Britannia, and Science. Britannia is shown being presented with a cornucopia of fruits and flowers. All the figures are gathered in front of an orangery, which was a structure found on wealthy estates in the 1600s to the 1800s. Orangeries were large buildings that kept orange and other fruit trees protected during the winter months. Below the drawing is a line of Latin that reads, “Behold, the boys bring baskets to you full of flowers.”

Whether you are an avid gardener yourself or just appreciate the beauty that others cultivate, we hope you’ll mark National Garden Month by stopping by the State Library to take a look at The Gardeners Dictionary!

Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian