Robert Burton(1577–1640)

English scholar and clergyman whose enduring fame rests on The Anatomy of Melancholy, a vast compendium on sadness, desire, and mental disturbance. Burton blends medical theory, classical learning, theology, and satire, assembling quotations and anecdotes into a book that is both encyclopedic and intimate.

Read by Emerson (see Emerson's Library), Thoreau (see Thoreau's Reading) & Alcott (see Alcott's Library)

1 title in the Cabinet

Anatomy of Melancholy

Full title: The anatomy of melancholy

The Dial's edition: 1838

A vast early modern compendium that anatomizes 'melancholy' through medicine, psychology, theology, and encyclopedic citation, mixing clinical taxonomy with moral reflection and learned satire.

Full textSurvives at Houghton Library

Read by Emerson (see Emerson's Library), Thoreau (see Thoreau's Reading) & Alcott (see Alcott's Library)