A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Theatrum,-i (s.n.II), abl.sg. theatro: = Gk. theatron, “a play-house, theater; any open space for exhibiting martial games; a place of exhibition, theater, stage (for any public act)” (Lewis & Short); also the audience; the scene of action; (eccles.) theater, show, study, complete picture (Stelten); “a field in which one’s qualities are exhibited publicly, a ‘theater,’ ‘stage’ (Glare); cf. amphitheater; see survey;

Theater (Eng. noun): (obsol.) (from the Rennaissance period) “a comprehensive outline or view: conspectus - used chiefly in book titles; (obsol.) example, exhibition, spectacle” (WIII); a large, even massive compendium, encyclopedia, or treatise, often illustrated: “a grand ‘stage’ of universal knowledge”(Wikipedia).

Theater (Eng. noun): (obsol.) “a comprehensive outline or view: conspectus - used chiefly in book titles; (obsol.) example, exhibition, spectacle” (WIII);

Theatrum vitae humanae, compilation of human behavior: Theodor Zwinger. (published throughout 1565-1604).

Compilation (Eng.noun): a collection of information, as in a list, book, or report, collected from a variety of sources; a collection of information assembled from previously separate items.

Theatrum botanicum: the theater of plants. Or, An herball of a large extent. John Parkinson, 1567-1650. London, Printed by T. Cotes, 1640. An immense herbal by John Parkinson, Apothecary to James I, a compendium of 1,755 pages with nearly 3,800 plants described, probably to be considered as a compendium of all herbal information available to its time: a ‘complete picture.’

NOTE: [bibliography] E Theatro "Sheldoniano" (Dill.), from the Sheldonian Theater.

- Opera JO. JAC. DILLENII, M. D. in Universitate oxoniensi Botanices Professoris Sherardini. - OXONII E THEATRO „SHELDONIANO” (Dill.), the works of Johan Jacob Dillenius, M.D., of the Sherardian Professor of Botany, in the University at Oxford, from the Sheldonian Theater at Oxford.

NOTE: The Sheldonian Theatre = as a repository of books from the Oxford University Press. The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, England, built 1664-1669, after a design by Christopher Wren, named after Gilbert Sheldon who commissioned Wren for this building. Sheldon was Chancellor of the University at the time; also Archbishop of Canterbury. Although the building was and is used for theater performances and ceremonies, this is where “for nearly a century the [Oxford] University Press stored its books” (Tinniswood, Adrian 2001 p. 102, His Invention So Fertile: a Life of Christopher Wren (Oxford U. Pr.). The excessive weight of whose books stressed the building.