СОЦВЕТИЕ НАУК ДЛЯ ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ИСТОРИЧЕСКОГО ГЕРБАРИЯ

Abstract

(Rev.: The Herbarium of Robert Erskine, Archiater and Physician-in-Chief to Peter the Great / edited by A.K. Sytin and D.D. Slastunov. SPb, Lubavich, 2022, 375 p.) Summary: The book under review is the first critical edition of the Herbarium belonged to Robert Areskin, a fellow-fighter of Peter the Great, his Physician-in-Chief and President of the Apothecary’s Garden in Moscow. The Herbarium was created in 1709 and composed of plant species from the vicinity of Moscow. This is Russia’s first botanical collection of western type. The present critical edition is a part of the huge research project “From the Kunstkamera to Herbal Science. The Development of Botany in Russia in the First Half of the 18th Century” conducted by Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the financial support of Russian Foundation for Basic Research. It demonstrates how productive the joint effort of botanists, historians, historians of science, librarians, archivists and museum custodians can be. The contribution of web designers, database developers and specialists in digital image processing neither can be underestimated. The review emphasizes the success of this interdisciplinary team and congratulates the editors on the way they revealed Herbarium’s scientific, historical and cultural value.