Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Robert Burton's Anatomy of Merlancholy
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Yes, there will always be an Englend - for historic drama, romance and wit. Take for instance Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, tyhe first dictionary of psychiatry, with qoutable lines and stories in English, Latin and Greek languages.
Robert Burton,(1577-1640) , an Oxford Christ Church scholar for 40 years, was a jovial recluse , Latin poet and universal savant , popular as a quoter, in 1621 he wrote this highly organized three-partition encyclopedia of depression, its causes, symptoms and cures, a first organized psychiatric textbook.It was a best-seller, providing the post-Elizabethan intelligentsia with instant knowledge of geography, climate, and health conditions, in addition to symptoms, cures, medicines, herbals, and the Latin to quote and stories to tell. It is an encyclopedic treatise that had five editions in Burton's lifetime, and dozens of revisions, right up to 2009. Burton admitted that that he wrote of melancholy, in order to be busy to avoid melancholy and advised that there is no better cure for it than being busy, and no greater cause than idleness.
Robert Burton started his Oxford studies at Brasenose College in 1593. At 22 he was elected to study at Christ Church College, and remained there, student and librarian, taking his DD in 1614 and a vicarage at St. Thomas Church two years later, until in 1`630 his patron George, Lord Berkeley, presented him with a living in Segrave, Leicestershire.
Reclusive but jovial, he quoted and wrote poetry, and a funny Latin play about charlatans, Philosophaster, meanwhile working on his grand textbook , first encyclopedia of psychiatry, written to control his own depressions, actually quite modern in talking out his and other people's problems .The Anatomie of Melancholy, for which he asumed the name of Democritus junior, was first printed in 1621,
A compulsive reviser, Burton kept updating his text in new editions.
The potential of the book was recognized early, and a clever publisher working under the Oxford publishing rules, Henry Cripps , had secured a half right to the book, and was getting richpublishing four editions between 1622 and 1635. To explain, in Britain, a literary country, publishers established their copyright territories, to sell their books and control publication, as early as 1407, forming a Stationers' C0mpany. Selling Bibles and controlled religious works , in strict territories, assured profitability. A Royal Charter was granted in 1557. Only Oxforrd and Cambridge scholarly publishers could float, and around 1635 Barton tried to tiptoe between the Oxford and the English Stationers' Company's guild-like copyright rules by having Henry Young, the notorious King's Printer for Scotland, publish the Fifth Edition illegally, in Edinborough. But Cripps stopped it, having obtained Stationers' Company's protection by selling a part of his copyright to Michael Sparke, a Company member (possibly a wash sale?). Young eventually sold the partially printed books to Cripps, who finished the printing in London and Oxford. The full fascinating page by printed page history of the Fifth Edition is laid out in B. Quaritch's sale Catalogue 2011-03 (US phone number is 011 44 20 7297 4888, call Donovan Rees , an inexpensive call by Skype). Some of Burton's new copy had to be removed to fit the pages, and the Quaritch copy has the rare Ll cancel leaf present. Leaf Ll, discussed by E.Gordon Duff & F.S.Ferguson (see The Library, 1/9/1923), updated by F. Madan in 1926, is not recognized in the STC4163 descriptions. .Only very few copies still existant have the extra page - there were no Bodleian, British Museum and University Library at Cambridge, per Duff.
Consequently, the history of the Fifth Edition makes it the most interesting and research-worthy 17th century printed work, also a detective story, a tale of business intrigue worthy of XXI Century, and a romance. There is some thought of a stage play, not quite of Shakespearian magnitude but a worthy companion to the King's Speech, The Queen and Masterpiece Theatre. Yes there will always be an England , source for romance, drama and historic wit,
Burton's positive attitude, humor and rich quotes made him a popular writer, a bestseller of the century. He admitted that that he wrote of melancholy, a way of being busy to avoid melancholy, and advised that there is no better cure for it than being busy, and no greater cause for melancholy than idleness. This explains the cyclic revivals in interest in Burton, with major updates of translations. It may be noted that the Cripps new editions of 1651 and 1660, though claimed to contain new words by Burton, had the same page length as our friend, the 1638 Fifth edition, and only the 1676 book had seeming improvements. Around 1840 the reprints acquired a Latin quotation translator credit, by Democritus Minor. More recently, the 1932 edition, less Elizabethan in tone, has an introduction by Holbrook Jackson, a Fabian journalist , who identifies Burton's great influence in John Milton's Il Penseroso, George Byron, Charles Lamb, Lawrence Sterne' sTristram Shandy. Nonesuch Press and Everyman's Library have also reprinted him. Today you can buy a Penguin reprint, of extracts only, but this is a different era.
To that point, Barnes & Noble carry no copies of the Anatomy, but offer over a dozen printed-to-order sources, to be ordered through them, prepaid
Yes, there will always be an Englend - for historic drama, romance and wit. Take for instance Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, tyhe first dictionary of psychiatry, with qoutable lines and stories in English, Latin and Greek languages.
Robert Burton,(1577-1640) , an Oxford Christ Church scholar for 40 years, was a jovial recluse , Latin poet and universal savant , popular as a quoter, in 1621 he wrote this highly organized three-partition encyclopedia of depression, its causes, symptoms and cures, a first organized psychiatric textbook.It was a best-seller, providing the post-Elizabethan intelligentsia with instant knowledge of geography, climate, and health conditions, in addition to symptoms, cures, medicines, herbals, and the Latin to quote and stories to tell. It is an encyclopedic treatise that had five editions in Burton's lifetime, and dozens of revisions, right up to 2009. Burton admitted that that he wrote of melancholy, in order to be busy to avoid melancholy and advised that there is no better cure for it than being busy, and no greater cause than idleness.
Robert Burton started his Oxford studies at Brasenose College in 1593. At 22 he was elected to study at Christ Church College, and remained there, student and librarian, taking his DD in 1614 and a vicarage at St. Thomas Church two years later, until in 1`630 his patron George, Lord Berkeley, presented him with a living in Segrave, Leicestershire.
Reclusive but jovial, he quoted and wrote poetry, and a funny Latin play about charlatans, Philosophaster, meanwhile working on his grand textbook , first encyclopedia of psychiatry, written to control his own depressions, actually quite modern in talking out his and other people's problems .The Anatomie of Melancholy, for which he asumed the name of Democritus junior, was first printed in 1621,
A compulsive reviser, Burton kept updating his text in new editions.
The potential of the book was recognized early, and a clever publisher working under the Oxford publishing rules, Henry Cripps , had secured a half right to the book, and was getting richpublishing four editions between 1622 and 1635. To explain, in Britain, a literary country, publishers established their copyright territories, to sell their books and control publication, as early as 1407, forming a Stationers' C0mpany. Selling Bibles and controlled religious works , in strict territories, assured profitability. A Royal Charter was granted in 1557. Only Oxforrd and Cambridge scholarly publishers could float, and around 1635 Barton tried to tiptoe between the Oxford and the English Stationers' Company's guild-like copyright rules by having Henry Young, the notorious King's Printer for Scotland, publish the Fifth Edition illegally, in Edinborough. But Cripps stopped it, having obtained Stationers' Company's protection by selling a part of his copyright to Michael Sparke, a Company member (possibly a wash sale?). Young eventually sold the partially printed books to Cripps, who finished the printing in London and Oxford. The full fascinating page by printed page history of the Fifth Edition is laid out in B. Quaritch's sale Catalogue 2011-03 (US phone number is 011 44 20 7297 4888, call Donovan Rees , an inexpensive call by Skype). Some of Burton's new copy had to be removed to fit the pages, and the Quaritch copy has the rare Ll cancel leaf present. Leaf Ll, discussed by E.Gordon Duff & F.S.Ferguson (see The Library, 1/9/1923), updated by F. Madan in 1926, is not recognized in the STC4163 descriptions. .Only very few copies still existant have the extra page - there were no Bodleian, British Museum and University Library at Cambridge, per Duff.
Consequently, the history of the Fifth Edition makes it the most interesting and research-worthy 17th century printed work, also a detective story, a tale of business intrigue worthy of XXI Century, and a romance. There is some thought of a stage play, not quite of Shakespearian magnitude but a worthy companion to the King's Speech, The Queen and Masterpiece Theatre. Yes there will always be an England , source for romance, drama and historic wit,
Burton's positive attitude, humor and rich quotes made him a popular writer, a bestseller of the century. He admitted that that he wrote of melancholy, a way of being busy to avoid melancholy, and advised that there is no better cure for it than being busy, and no greater cause for melancholy than idleness. This explains the cyclic revivals in interest in Burton, with major updates of translations. It may be noted that the Cripps new editions of 1651 and 1660, though claimed to contain new words by Burton, had the same page length as our friend, the 1638 Fifth edition, and only the 1676 book had seeming improvements. Around 1840 the reprints acquired a Latin quotation translator credit, by Democritus Minor. More recently, the 1932 edition, less Elizabethan in tone, has an introduction by Holbrook Jackson, a Fabian journalist , who identifies Burton's great influence in John Milton's Il Penseroso, George Byron, Charles Lamb, Lawrence Sterne' sTristram Shandy. Nonesuch Press and Everyman's Library have also reprinted him. Today you can buy a Penguin reprint, of extracts only, but this is a different era.
To that point, Barnes & Noble carry no copies of the Anatomy, but offer over a dozen printed-to-order sources, to be ordered through them, prepaid
Labels: Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 11:54 AM 
