The 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of the Library of Sir Thomas Browne highlights the erudition of the physician, philosopher and encyclopedist, Sir Thomas Browne. It also illustrates the proliferation, distribution and availability of books printed throughout 17th century Europe which were purchased by the intelligentsia, aristocracy, priestly, physician or educated merchant-class.
Browne graduated from the University of Leiden in 1633 having previously studied at the Universities of Montpellier and Padua for his medical degree. Upon his establishment in Norwich as a physician he was able to begin a lifetime's bibliophilia, building a private library, acquiring and reading an estimated 1,500 titles. He was adept in five contemporary languages: French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Danish; these languages as well as Greek and Hebrew and the predominant written form of the Renaissance, namely Latin, are all represented in his Library.
The 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue reflects the wide scope of Browne's interests. It includes many of the sources of his encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica which went through six editions (1646 to 1672); and established him as one of the leading intellects of 17th-century Europe.
Browne's erudite learning is reflected by the Classics of antiquity as well as history, geography, philology, philosophy, anatomy, theology, cartography, embryology, medicine, cosmography, ornithology, mineralogy, zoology, travel, law, mathematics, geometry, literature, both Continental and English, the latest advances in scientific thinking in astronomy, chemistry as well as esoteric topics such as astrology, alchemy, physiognomy and the Kabbalah are all represented in the Catalogue of his library contents. It was however not until 1986 that the Catalogue was first made widely available. The American scholar Jeremiah Stanton Finch, Dean Emeritus at Princeton University took on the task of indexing Browne's work during his retirement, completing the indexing of the books of Sir Thomas and his son Edward Browne's libraries, "after many years in many libraries". Finch noted that the Catalogue advertised books of sculpture and painting, which somehow were never delivered to the auction house. In the event, the auction held upon January 8-10th, 1711 was attended by Jonathan Swift and buyers working on behalf of Sir Hans Sloane. Thus an unknown percentage of books auctioned from the Library of Sir Thomas Browne subsequently formed the foundation for the future British Library.
The 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue records the omnivorous reading and bibliophilia which Browne engaged upon for roughly sixty years, it also exemplifies the observation:
to the student of the history of ideas in its modern sense of the inter-relationship between science, art and philosophy, Browne is of great importance.
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides ed. Johannes Meursius Leiden 1612Archimedes, Opera 1615Aristotle Opera, 1615Rhetorica, 1619De Mundo, 1591Problemata, 1632Aristophanes Comedies XI, Leiden 1624Arrian, Ponti Euxini, Geneva 1577de Venatione, Paris 1644Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica 2 vols. Leiden 1641Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae or Banquet of the learned ed. Isaac Casaubon 1612Epicurus Philosophy of, ed. Pierre Gassendi 2 vols. Leiden 1649Euclid Elementorum Libri 6. priores, London 1620Euripides Tragedies, 1562Homer Opera, Basle 1612Iamblichus, Life of PythagorasThe Mysteries of Egyptians and Chaldeans, Leyden 1670Lucian, Opera, 1546Dialogi Selectiores, Paris 1572Philo Opera, Cologne 1613Plato Chalcidii Timaeus, Leiden 1617 (ed. Johannes Meursius)Sibyllina Oracula, 1607Theophrastus Characters, notes by Isaac Casaubon, Leyden 1638Xenophon, Cyropaedia Gk & Lat London 1674Boethius, Consolation Of Philosophy, 1653Censorinus, De die natali Leiden 1593Cicero, Dream of ScipioOpera 2 vols. 1527Epistulae ad Familiares 1550Florus, Historia, Leiden 1655Hyginus, Fabulae Paris 1578Isidore of Seville, Originum 20 BooksMartianus Capella, de nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, 1577Juvenal, Satyrae, Leyden 1523Macrobius, Somnium Scipionis (Dream of Scipio) 1556Marcus Aurelius, notes by Meric Casaubon, London 1643Ovid, Opera, London 1656Petronius, Satyricon, 1654Plautus, Comedies, with notes by Denis Lambin 1581Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, Brussels 1496Propertius, cum Notis Varior. Traj. 1658Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 1575Seneca, Tragedies, Leiden 1651Suetonius, Lives of the 12 Caesars, trans. Philemon Holland 1659Terence, Comedies, 1625Valerius Maximus, with notes, Leiden 1651Virgil, Opera, Amsterdam 1654Vitruvius, L'Architetturra di Vitruvio, tradotta & commentata da Daniele Barbaro Venice 1641Alhazen Opticae Thesaurus Libri X, Basle 1572'Ali ibn al-'Abbas al-Majusi Liber Totius Medicine Venice 1523Francois d'Aguillon, Opticorum Libri 6, Antwerp 1613Petrus Apianus, Cosmographia, Antwerp 1545Isaac Barrow, Euclid's Elements, London 1660Antonio Bosio, Roma Subterranea cum. fig. 3 Tomi in 1 vol. Cologne 1659Robert Boyle, Usefulness of Experimental Philosophy, London 1671Henry Briggs, Arithemica Logarithmica, London 1644Alessandro Piccolomini, De Sphaera, Basle 1565Thomas Digges, Alae seu Scalae Mathematicae, London 1573Thomas Fincke, Geometria Rotundi, Basle 1583Galileo, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Trent 1635Sidereus Nuncius, London 1653Two World Systems Englished by T. Sainsbury, 1661William Gilbert. De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure 1600Sir Matthew Hale's Observat. touch. the Torricelli Experiment 1674Jean-Baptiste du Hamel, de meteoris & fossilbus, Paris 1660de consensu Vet. & Novae Philosophiae Paris 1663de Corpor. affectionib. Paris 1670Robert Hooke, Lectures, London 1678Christian Huygens, Systema Saturnium, The Hague 1659Johannes Kepler, Mysterium Cosmographicum, Tübingen 1596de Stella nova in pede Serpentis, Prague 1606ad Vitellionem Paralipomena, Frankfurt 1604Fortunio Liceti De lucernis antiquorum reconditis, Udine 1652Antiqua Schemata Gemmar. Anular. cum fig., 1653De spontaneo viventium ortu libri quatuor, Vicenza 1618De his, qui diu vivunt sine alimento, Padua 1612De quaesitis per epistolas a claris viris responsa, Bologna 1640De Terra & de Lucidis in Sublimi, Udine 1640De lapide Bononiensi & Qualitis, Udine 1640De regulari motu minimaque parallaxi cometarum coelestium disputationes, Udine 1640Jan Marek Marci Idearum Operatricum Idea Hannover 1635William Oughtred, Clavis Mathematica London 1648Georg Purbach, Theoricae novae Planetarum, Basle 1568Regiomontanus, Tabulae Directionum & Prosectionum, 1551Robert Recorde, Whetstone of Witte, 1557John Speed, History of Great Britain, 2nd ed. 1627Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia, Euclide reaffettato & alla Integrita ridotto 1543Godefroy Wendelin Of the cause of purple rain in Brussels, Brussels 1647Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning, 1628Natural History, 1628Opuscula Philosophica, 1658Bellarmine, Apologia pro Jure Princip., 1611René Descartes, Discourse on Method, 1637, 1st editionMéditations, 1644Meditationes de prima Philosophia, Amsterdam 1644Principia Philosophia, Amsterdam 1656Lettres, Paris 1657de la Lumière &c., Paris 1664les Passions de l'âme, Amsterdam 1650Compendium of Musick, London 1653Of a Method for the well-guiding of Reason, London 1649Thomas Hobbes, Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Secunda de Homine, 1658Elementa Philosophica de Cive 2nd edit., Amsterdam 1647Justus Lipsius, Opera, 4 Tomi in 3 vol., Antwerp 1637Jan Gruter, Inscriptiones antiquae totius orbis Romani, 2 vols. Heidelberg 1603Machiavelli, History of Florence, Strasbourg 1610Blaise Pascal, Pensées 1670Discours sur les mêmes Pensées, 1672Francis Osborne Collected Works 1675Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 1620Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Paris 1638Richard Baxter, Reasons of the Christian Religion 1667Samuel Bochart, Geographica sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan, cum. Tabul Geograph. Caen 1642Jean Bodin, Daemonomania, Basle 1581Johannes Buxtorf, Lexicon Chaldaic.Talmudic & Rabbinic Basle 1639Epitome Grammaticae,Hebraea London 1653Lexicon Hebraic.& Chaldaic London 1646Epitome Grammaticae Hebraea Basle 1629Clement of Alexandria, Opera, Paris 1629Ralph Cudworth, On the true Notion of the Lord's Supper, London 1642Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Opera, Basle 1571Erasmus, Preparations for death, Basle 1532Joseph Hall, Works, vol. 1st and 3rd London 1647,1662Justin Martyr Opera Paris 1636Jerome Opera 9 Tomi, in 4 vol Paris 1643Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, 2nd edit. 1577Marin Mersenne, Questions in Genesis, Paris 1623Benito Arias Montano, New Testament, Gk.Latin Geneva 1619Sebastian Münster, Opus Grammat. (Hebrew), Basle 1542Grammatica Chaldaica, Basle 1527Rabbi Abrahami Sphaera Mundi (Hebrew), Latinized 1546Alexander Nowell Catechism 1575Origen, Opera, Basle 1571James Usher de Textus Hebraei V. variantib. Lectionibus, London 1652Avicenna Opera, 2 vols. 1608 VeniceThomas Bartholin Anatomia Reformata, Leyden 1651de Medicina Danorun Domestica, Hannover 1666de Luce Animalium, Leyden 1647Historiar. Anatomic. rarior. Cent. VI, 3 vol. Hannover 1654de Pulmonum Substantia et Motu, Hannover 1663de Lacteis Thoracicis, London 1652de Ovariis Mulierum & Generat. Historia, 1678Gerolamo Cardano Opera, 10 vol. Leyden 1663Aulus Cornelius Celsus De Medicina 8 Libri Basle 1592Realdo Colombo De Re Anatomica Libri XV Venice 1559Pedanius Dioscorides Opera, 1598Parabilia, 1598Charles Estienne De dissectione Corporis humani, 1545Hieronymus Fabricius Opera Anatomica, Paris 1625De Visione, Voce & Auditu, Venice 1600Ab Aquapendente Opera Chirurgica, Venice 1619Fallopius, Opera, Frankfurt 1600Jean Fernel, Cosmotheoria, 1528Leonhart Fuchs, de humani Corporis fabrica Leiden 1551Paradoxor. Medicinae Libri 3 Venice 1547Galen, Opera, 5 books in 3 vols. Basle 1538Pierre Gassendi,Vita Epicuri, Leiden 1647de apparente magnitudine solis humilis et sublimis, Paris 1642Instit. Astronomia item Galileo et Kepler, 1683Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus, 1648Francis Glisson, De ventriculo & Intestinis, London 1677de Rachitide, London 1650Jonathan Goddard Unhappy condition of Practice of Physick in London, 1670Johannes Goropius Becanus Origines Antwerpianae 1569William Harvey, De Generatione, London 1651Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in AnimalibusHippocrates Opera 1624Aphorismi & Prognost in Greek and Latin, ed. Jo. Butino 1625Coacae Praenotiones, notes by John Johnson, Amsterdam 1660de Morbis Mulierum, Paris 1585Praenotiones, Paris 1585Marcello Malpighi De viscerum structura, London 1669de formatione Pulli in Ovo, London 1673de Viscerum Structura, London 1669Adrian von Mynsicht Thesaurus et Armamentarium Medico-Chymicum 1631Jan Swammerdam, Uteri Muliebris Fabrica, London 1680of Respiration, Leiden 1667Thomas Sydenham, Observationes Medical., London 1676de Podagra & Hydrope, London 1683Schedula Monitoria de nova Febris Ingressu, London 1686Epist. duae de Morbis Epidem. & de Lue Venera, London 1680Dissertatio Epistolaris, London 1682Walter Charleton, Enquiries into Human Nature, 1680Darkness of Atheism dispelled by Nature's Light, 1652Henry Martini,Anatomia Urinae Galeno-Spagyrica, Frankfurt 1659George Ent, Apolog. pro Circulatione Sanguinis adv. et Parisanum, London 1641Franz de la Boe a.k.a. Franciscus SylviusThomas Willis, Opera varia, 5 vols. London 1664Cerebri Anatome cum fig., London 1664Richard Lower, De Corde: item de motu & colore sanguinis, London 1670Julius Caesar Scaliger, On Insomnia, Geneva 1610Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica 8 Books 1555Jacques Dubois aka Jacobus Sylvius de Signis omnib. Medicis Paris 1630Elias Ashmole ed., Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, 1652J.J. Becher Physica subterranea Frankfurt 1669Guido Bonati de Astronomica Tract 1550Tommaso Campanella, 7 Astrological books, Frankfurt 1630Jerome Cardan Opera omnia 10 vols. Leiden 1663Arthur Dee, Fasciculus ChemicusMarsilio Ficino, Theologia Platonica de Immortalitate Animorum, Paris 1559Jacques Gaffarel, Unheard-of Curiosities, Paris 1650Francesco Giorgi, De harmonia mundi, Venice 1525Johann Glauber, de natura Salium, Amsterdam 1658Lucas Gauricus, super Dieb. Decretoriis sive Criticis Axiomata Rome 1546Helvetius, Miraculo transmutandi Metallica, Antwerp 1667Athanasius Kircher, Ars Magna Lucis & Umbrae, Rome 1646Obeliscus Pamphilius, Rome 1650Oedipus Aegyptiacus, Rome 1652Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica, Rome 1654Mundus Subterraneus, 2 Vols. Amsterdam 1665Heinrich Khunrath Medulla Distillatoria & Medica. Hamburg 1638Raymund Lull, Vademecum, quo sontes Alchemica Art, 1572Pico della Mirandola Cabalistarum Selectiora Obscurioraque Dogmata, Venice 1569Paracelsus, Opera Medico-Chimica, Frankfurt 1603Petrae, Nosologia Harmonica Dogmatica et Hermetica, 1615Giambattista della Porta, Natural Magic, 1644Villa, 12 Books Frankfurt 1592Phytognomica, Naples 1588Coelestis Physiogranonia, Naples 1603de Miracoli & Maravigliosi Effetti dalla Natura prodotti, Venice 1665William Ramsay, Judicial Astrology vindicated 1651Henry Ranzovus, Astrologia Scientiae Certitudo, 1585Martin Ruland, Dictionary of alchemy, 1612Sendivogius, The true secret Philosophy, Castille 1651Oswald Schreckenfuchs Commentaries on George Peurbach Basle 1569Theatrum Chemicum, 5 vols inc. vol. 1 Gerhard Dorn Strasbourg 1613Johannes Trithemius, Polygraphiae Libri 6., Cologne 1571Basil Valentine, Currus Triumphalis, with fig., Amsterdam 1671Thomas Vaughan, A Hermeticall Banquet drest by a Spagyrical Cook, 1652Blaise de Vigenère, Tract du Feu & du Sel, Rouen 1642Vossius, De Idolatria (1642)Johann Weyer, Opera, Amsterdam 1660Georg Agricola, de Re Metallica, Basle 1621de Ortu & Causis Subterraneor, Basle 1558Ulissi Aldrovandi, Museum Metallicum cum fig, Bologna 1648Serpentium and Draconum historia cum fig., Bologna 1640Ornithtologia sive de Avibus Historia, cum fig., Frankfurt 1610Quadrupedum Bisulcorum Historia, cum fig Bologna 1642de Quadrupedib. Digitatis Viviparis & Oviparis 1637de Quadupedib. Animalibus & Piscibus Frankfurt 1610Monstror. Historia, cum fig. Bologna 1642Prospero Alpini, de Medicina Medicae, Patav. 1611de Plantis Egypti, Patav. 1640de Medicina Egypti, 1646de praesagienda Vita & Morte Aegrotantium, Venice 1601J. Bauhin, Historica Plant., 3 Vols. 1650Hist. Fontis & Balnei Bollenis, Montpellier 1598C. Bauhin, Prodomus Theatri Botanici, Frankfurt 1620Pinax Theatri Botanici, Basle 1623de Hermaphroditor. Natura, 1614J.J. Becher, Physica Subterranea, Frankfurt 1669Pierre Belon, Histoire de la Nature des Oiseaux avec leurs Descriptions & naises traits retirez du Naturel, Paris 1555Carolus Clusius Exoticorum libri decem Leiden 1605Stripium novae descrip. cum fig. Leiden 1611Conrad Gessner, Opera, 4 vols. Zurich 1551de Avibus, cum fig. illuminatusEpistolae Medicinales Zurich 1577Thomas Muffet, De Insect cum fig, London 1634Nosomantica Hippocratea, Frankfurt 1588John Ray, Catalogus Plantar. Angliae, London 1670Historia Plantarum, London 1670Guillaume Rondelet De Piscibus Marinis 1554Nicolas Steno, Concerning Solids naturally contained within solids, 1671Elementor Myologiae Specimen, cum fig., Amsterdam 1669Observationes Anatomicae cum fig., Leiden 1662de Cerebri Anatome, Leiden 1671Francis Willughby, Ornithologia, cum fig. London 1676Olaus Wormius, Museum Wormianum, Leyden 1655Dante, La Terza RimaGeorge Herbert, The Temple, sacred poems, Cambridge 1641Milton, Paradise Lost, 1674Paradise Regained, with Samson Agonistes, 1671Abraham Cowley, Poems, with his Davideis 1656Edmund Spenser Works, 1679The Faerie Queene in 12 books, 1609Ben Jonson, Works, 2 Vols. 1616/1640Edmund Gayton's Pleasant notes upon Don Quixote 1654Geography and History
Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine with maps, 1650John Greaves, A description of the Grand Signiors Seraglio 1650Pyramidographia, or a Description of the Pyramids in Egypt 1646Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum Paris, 1514James Howell, Of the Precedency of Kings, 1664Athanasius Kircher China Illustrated, Amsterdam 1667Gerardus Mercator, Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura, Amsterdam 1613Claude Mydorge, Examen du Livre des recreations Mathematiques, Paris 1639Abraham Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Antwerp 1574Thesaurus Geographic. recognit. & auctus 1611Itinerar. per Galliae Belgicae partes Plant. 1584Strabo Geographia 17 Books Commentary Isaac Casaubon Paris 1620Of the Kingdom of Naples, 1654Of the Signorie of Venice, 1651Of Hungary and Transylvania, 1664Instructions for Foreign Travels, 1642Thomas Morley, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke London 1597Valentin Schindler, Lexicon Pentaglotton Hebraic., Chaldic., Syrian., Arabic., 1612Artificia Hominum, Miranda Naturae, in Sina & Europa, 1655Ethiopian Dictionary 1674
