Theophrastus
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Theophrastus. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a Greek philosopher; often called the "father of botany"; a native of Eresus, in Lesbos; He flourished in the 4th century B. C. became a pupil of Plato at Athens, and made, at the academy, the acquaintance Aristotle; but he quitted the ad of the academy after Plato's death, and was absent from Athens for some years. On his return, he gladly studied philosophy under his friend Aristotle, who had so high a regard for him as to bequeath to him his library, and to name him his successor. Theophrastus had extraordinary as head of the Lyceum, and was attended, it is said, by 2,000 them were Demetrius Menander. A charge brought against him, but he defended himself, and generously interposed to save his adversary from the He was, however, popular vengeance. compelled to leave Athens in 305 B. C., under the law which banished all philosophers. The law was soon repealed and he returned to his post and peacefully taught and commented on the system of his master, Aristotle, till his death. His writings were very numerous, but have with the following exceptions: perished His work entitled "Characters," a set of his lively sketches of vicious and ridiculous characters; treatises on the "History of Plants," on the "Causes of Plants," and on "Stones"; a work on the "Senses," and several fragments. The "Characters" served as the model for La Bruyère's work with the same title; it has been several times translated into English, French, and German.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A native of Lesbos. Diogenes enumerates the titles of more than two hundred treatises which he wrote. He died in his 107th year, в. c. 288.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts still hold up on the essentials: Theophrastus of Eresus on Lesbos, Aristotle's heir at the Lyceum, and the author of the botanical works that earned him Collier's 1921 title "father of botany." What has moved is the text itself. Collier's listed the survivals as the Characters, the two plant books, On Stones and On the Senses; scholars have since recovered his Meteorology from medieval Syriac and Arabic translations, and the Project Theophrastus edition of the 1990s gathered several hundred fragments and testimonia from the roughly two hundred lost treatises catalogued by Diogenes Laertius. The 1900 volume's claim that he died in his 107th year is not the modern view: he is usually reckoned to have died about 287 B.C. aged around eighty-five.
Written for this edition, 2026.