The 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of the Library of Sir Thomas Browne is a catalogue of the books and other written works collected within the personal library of the English physician, philosopher and encyclopedist Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682), most of which were sold at auction in 1711. Browne's library has been useful to scholars and historians not only in highlighting his erudition, but also in illustrating the proliferation, distribution and availability of books printed in 17th-century Europe, especially those owned by the intelligentsia, aristocracy, priests, physicians and educated merchant-class.
Biography 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 in 1637 he began to cultivate a lifelong bibliophilia, building a private library and 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, Hebrew, and Latin (the predominant written language of the Renaissance) are all represented in his library.
The catalogue The 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue reflects the wide scope of Browne's interests. It includes many of the sources used for his encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica, which was published in six editions between 1646 and 1672 and established him as one of the leading intellects of 17th-century Europe.
Browne's library contained many of the Classics of antiquity, and numerous other books on an eclectic variety of subjects including 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 astronomy and chemistry, and more esoteric fields such as astrology, alchemy, physiognomy and the Kabbalah are all represented in the Catalogue of his library contents. It was not until 1986, however, that the complete contents of the Catalogue were 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 8–10 January 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.A Facsimile of the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of Sir Thomas Browne and his son Edward's Libraries. Introduction, notes and index by J.S. Finch (E.J. Brill: Leiden, 1986) Page 7
The 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue records the omnivorous reading and bibliophilia which Browne engaged upon for roughly sixty years, and 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.The Strategy for Truth – Leonard Nathanson Chicago University Press 1967
Contents Greek literature Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, ed. Johannes Meursius, Leiden 1612 Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, 2 vols., Leiden 1641 Archimedes, Opera, 1615 Aristophanes, Comedies XI, Leiden, 1624 Aristotle Opera, 1615 Rhetorica, 1619 De Mundo, 1591 Problemata, ed. Ludovico Settala, 1632 Arrian Ponti Euxini, Geneva 1577 de Venatione, Paris 1644 Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae or Banquet of the learned, ed. Isaac Casaubon, 1612 Epicurus, Philosophy of, ed. Pierre Gassendi, 2 vols., Leiden 1649 Euclid, Elementorum Libri 6. priores, London 1620 Euripides, Tragedies, 1562 Herodotus, Historia, Frankfurt 1608 Homer, Opera, Basle 1612 Iamblichus Life of Pythagoras The Mysteries of Egyptians and Chaldeans, Leyden 1670 Lucian Opera, 1546 Dialogi Selectiores, Paris 1572 Philo, Opera, Cologne 1613 Plato, Chalcidii Timaeus, ed. Johannes Meursius, Leiden 1617 Sibyllina Oracula, 1607 Theophrastus, Characters, notes by Isaac Casaubon, Leyden 1638 Xenophon, Cyropaedia, Gk & Lat London 1674
Roman literature Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, 1653 Censorinus, De die natali, Leiden 1593 Cicero Dream of Scipio Opera, 2 vols., 1527 Epistulae ad Familiares, 1550 Florus, Historia, Leiden 1655 Hyginus, Fabulae, Paris 1578 Isidore of Seville, Originum, 20 books Juvenal, Satyrae, Leyden 1523 Macrobius, Somnium Scipionis (Dream of Scipio), 1556 Marcus Aurelius, notes by Meric Casaubon, London 1643 Martianus Capella, de nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, 1577 Ovid, Opera, London 1656 Petronius, Satyricon, 1654 Plautus, Comedies, notes by Denis Lambin, 1581 Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, Brussels 1496 Propertius, cum Notis Varior. Traj., 1658 Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, 1575 Seneca, Tragedies, Leiden 1651 Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars, trans. Philemon Holland, 1659 Terence, Comedies, 1625 Valerius Maximus, with notes, Leiden 1651 Virgil, Opera, Amsterdam 1654 Vitruvius, L'Architetturra di Vitruvio, tradotta & commentata da Daniele Barbaro, Venice 1641
Arabic Alhazen, Opticae Thesaurus, Libri X, Basle 1572 'Ali ibn al-'Abbas al-Majusi, Liber Totius Medicine, Venice 1523
Contemporary science François d'Aguilon, Opticorum Libri 6, Antwerp 1613 Petrus Apianus, Cosmographia, Antwerp 1545 Isaac Barrow, Euclid's Elements, London 1660 Mario Bettini, Beehives of Universal Philosophical Mathematics, 1656 Antonio Bosio, Roma Subterranea cum. fig. 3 Tomi in 1 vol., Cologne 1659 Robert Boyle, Usefulness of Experimental Philosophy, London 1671 Henry Briggs, Arithemica Logarithmica, London 1644 Thomas Digges, Alae seu Scalae Mathematicae, London 1573 Thomas Fincke, Geometria Rotundi, Basle 1583 Galileo Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Trent 1635 Sidereus Nuncius, London 1653 Two World Systems, trans. T. Sainsbury, 1661 William Gilbert, De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure, 1600 Sir Matthew Hale, Observat. touch. the Torricelli Experiment, 1674 Jean-Baptiste du Hamel de meteoris & fossilbus, Paris 1660 de consensu Vet. & Novae Philosophiae, Paris 1663 , Paris 1670 Robert Hooke, Lectures, London 1678 Christiaan Huygens, Systema Saturnium, The Hague 1659 Johannes Kepler Mysterium Cosmographicum, Tübingen 1596 De Stella Nova in Pede Serpentis, Prague 1606 ad Vitellionem Paralipomena, Frankfurt 1604 Fortunio Liceti De lucernis antiquorum reconditis, Udine 1652 Antiqua Schemata Gemmar. Anular. cum fig., 1653 De spontaneo viventium ortu libri quatuor, Vicenza 1618 De his, qui diu vivunt sine alimento, Padua 1612 De quaesitis per epistolas a claris viris responsa, Bologna 1640 De Terra & de Lucidis in Sublimi, Udine 1640 De lapide Bononiensi & Qualitis, Udine 1640 De regulari motu minimaque parallaxi cometarum coelestium disputationes, Udine 1640 Jan Marek Marci, Idearum Operatricum Idea, Hannover 1635 William Oughtred, Clavis Mathematica, London 1648 Alessandro Piccolomini, De Sphaera, Basle 1565 Georg Purbach, Theoricae novae Planetarum, Basle 1568 Robert Recorde, Whetstone of Witte, 1557 Regiomontanus, Tabulae Directionum & Prosectionum, 1551 Christoph Scheiner, Rosa Ursina sive Sol, Bracciano 1630 Gaspar Schott, Magia Universalis Natura Artis, 4 vols., Würzburg 1657 John Speed, History of Great Britain, 2nd ed., 1627 Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, Euclide rassettato & alla Integrità ridotto, 1543 Godefroy Wendelin, Of the cause of purple rain in Brussels, Brussels 1647
Philosophy Francis Bacon Advancement of Learning, 1628 Natural History, 1628 Opuscula Philosophica, 1658 Bellarmine, Apologia pro Jure Princip., 1611 Charles de Bovelles, Liber de intellectu. Liber de sensibus. Liber de generatione. Libellus de nihilo. Ars oppositorum. Liber de sapiente. Liber de duodecim numeris. Philosophicae epistulae. Liber de perfectis numeris. Libellus de mathematicis rosis. Liber de mathematicis corporibus. Libellus de mathematicis supplementis, Paris 1510 René Descartes Discourse on Method, 1st ed., 1637 Méditations, 1644 Meditationes de prima Philosophia, Amsterdam 1644 Principia Philosophia, Amsterdam 1656 Lettres, Paris 1657 de la Lumière &c., Paris 1664 les Passions de l'âme, Amsterdam 1650 Compendium of Musick, London 1653 Of a Method for the well-guiding of Reason, London 1649 Jan Gruter, Inscriptiones antiquae totius orbis Romani, 2 vols., Heidelberg 1603 Thomas Hobbes Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Secunda de Homine, 1658 Elementa Philosophica de Cive, 2nd ed., Amsterdam 1647 Justus Lipsius, Opera, 4 Tomi in 3 vol., Antwerp 1637 Machiavelli, History of Florence, Strasbourg 1610 Francis Osborne, Collected Works, 1675 Blaise Pascal Pensées, 1670 Discours sur les mêmes Pensées, 1672
Theology Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Paris 1638 Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 1620 Richard Baxter, Reasons of the Christian Religion 1667 Samuel Bochart, Geographica sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan, cum. Tabul Geograph. Caen 1642 Jean Bodin, Demonomania, Basle 1581 Johannes Buxtorf Lexicon Chaldaic.Talmudic & Rabbinic Basle 1639 Epitome Grammaticae, Hebraea London 1653 Lexicon Hebraic.& Chaldaic London 1646 Epitome Grammaticae Hebraea Basle 1629 Clement of Alexandria, Opera, Paris 1629 Ralph Cudworth, On the true Notion of the Lord's Supper, London 1642 Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Opera, Basle 1571 Erasmus, Preparations for death, Basle 1532 Joseph Hall, Works, vol. 1st and 3rd London 1647,1662 Jerome, Opera 9 Tomi, in 4 vol Paris 1643 Justin Martyr, Opera Paris 1636 Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, 2nd edit. 1577 Marin Mersenne, Questions in Genesis, Paris 1623 Benito Arias Montano, New Testament, Greek & Latin Geneva 1619 Sebastian Münster Opus Grammat. (Hebrew), Basle 1542 Grammatica Chaldaica, Basle 1527 Rabbi Abrahami Sphaera Mundi (Hebrew), Latinized 1546 Alexander Nowell, Catechism 1575 Origen, Opera, Basle 1571 James Usher, , London 1652 George Wither, Discourse of the Nature of Man, and his State after Death 1650
Medical Avicenna, Opera, 2 vols. 1608 Venice Thomas Bartholin Anatomia Reformata, Leyden 1651 de Medicina Danorun Domestica, Hannover 1666 de Luce Animalium, Leyden 1647 Historiar. Anatomic. rarior. Cent. VI, 3 vol. Hannover 1654 de Pulmonum Substantia et Motu, Hannover 1663 de Lacteis Thoracicis, London 1652 de Ovariis Mulierum & Generat. Historia, 1678 Gerolamo Cardano Opera, 10 vol. Leyden 1663 Aulus Cornelius Celsus De Medicina 8 Libri Basle 1592 Walter Charleton Enquiries into Human Nature, 1680 Darkness of Atheism dispelled by Nature's Light, 1652 Realdo Colombo De Re Anatomica Libri XV Venice 1559 Pedanius Dioscorides Opera, 1598 Parabilia, 1598 Jacques Dubois aka Jacobus Sylvius, Paris 1630 George Ent, Apolog. pro Circulatione Sanguinis adv. et Parisanum, London 1641 Charles Estienne, De dissectione Corporis humani, 1545 Hieronymus Fabricius Opera Anatomica, Paris 1625 De Visione, Voce & Auditu, Venice 1600 Ab Aquapendente Opera Chirurgica, Venice 1619 Fallopius, Opera, Frankfurt 1600 Jean Fernel, Cosmotheoria, 1528 Leonhart Fuchs de humani Corporis fabrica Leiden 1551 Paradoxor. Medicinae Libri 3 Venice 1547 Galen, Opera, 5 books in 3 vols. Basle 1538 Pierre Gassendi Vita Epicuri, Leiden 1647 de apparente magnitudine solis humilis et sublimis, Paris 1642 Instit. Astronomia item Galileo et Kepler, 1683 Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus, 1648 Francis Glisson De ventriculo & Intestinis, London 1677 de Rachitide, London 1650 Jonathan Goddard, Unhappy condition of Practice of Physick in London, 1670 Johannes Goropius Becanus, Origines Antwerpianae 1569 William Harvey