Book Description
One of the major documents of modern European civilization, Robert Burton’s astounding compendium, a survey of melancholy in all its myriad forms, has invited nothing but superlatives since its publication in the seventeenth century. Lewellyn Powys called it “the greatest work of prose of the greatest period of English prose-writing,” while the celebrated surgeon William Osler declared it the greatest of medical treatises. And Dr. Johnson, Boswell reports, said it was the only book that he rose early in the morning to read with pleasure. In this surprisingly compact and elegant new edition, Burton’s spectacular verbal labyrinth is sure to delight, instruct, and divert today’s readers as much as it has those of the past four centuries.
Publisher comments
This edition retains the original Latin, while providing bracketed English translations.
About the author
ROBERT BURTON (1577–1640) was born in Leicestershire and educated at Oxford, where he became librarian of Christ’s Church College, a position he held for life. He was also the vicar of St. Thomas, Oxford, and the rector of Seabrave, Leicestershire. The first edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy appeared in 1621 and was an immediate popular success. Burton continued to revise and add to his great book, which went through a further five editions, until his death.
