Sir Thomas Browne

1605–1682

Introduction

Sir Thomas Browne — physician, master of curious Learning and incomparable Baroque prose stylist — has left behind no autograph manuscripts of those works on which his fame chiefly depends. He has, however, left a substantial collection of notebooks and miscellaneous draft writings, some of which contain passages relating to certain of his main works. He has left drafts of later works such as A Letter to a Friend, Brampton Urns, Repertorium and Certain Miscellany Tracts, which were not published until after his death. A number of printed exempla of his works contain his autograph corrections and revisions. Also much of his correspondence with his family and contemporary scholars survives. Other manuscripts of his immediate family are known and a number of contemporary copies bear witness to a limited circulation in manuscripts of at least one of his works during his lifetime: see Kathryn Murphy, A man of excellent parts: The manuscript readers of Thomas Browne's Religio Medici, TLS (4 July 2008), 14-15.

Browne's Papers and their Dispersal

After his death on 19 October 1682 and following the death of his wife and sole executrix, Lady Dorothy Browne, on 24 February 1684/5, Browne's papers and library passed to his eldest surviving son, Dr Edward Browne (1644-1708). Following the latter's death, they passed to Sir Thomas's grandson, Dr Thomas Browne, who died in 1710. Certain members of the Browne family then took the decision to sell off the collections by auction in 1710. Certainly a portion of Sir Thomas's papers fell into the hands of the publisher Edmund Curll (1675-1747) and were used for the edition of Browne's Posthumous Works (comprising Repertorium, Brampton Urns, correspondence with Dugdale and Miscellanies) which Curll hurried through the press in 1712. Curll printed the main work in that edition, Repertorium, from an autograph manuscript of Browne's supplied to him (in place of an inferior copy) by Sir Thomas's grandson by marriage, Owen Brigstocke (1679-1746), who married Edward Browne's sixth daughter, Anne. Curll implies in his preface that this was where he had obtained all of Sir Thomas's remains although, in fact, there is evidence that he may have obtained at least some of the manuscripts from his friend Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755). Rawlinson acquired at some time his own collection of Browne papers, some of which (not used by Curll) are still preserved in the Rawlinson collections in the Bodleian. These papers include a list of Browne's manuscripts made c.1711 (see further below), a list which was copied in part in a manuscript among collections of the Norfolk antiquary Peter Le Neve (1661-1729), also in the Bodleian (MS Rawl. D. 888, f. 34v). According to Dr Thomas Tanner, Le Neve himself had great collections that way (viz. of Browne's papers), but if so, nothing more is known of them (they do not feature in the catalogue of the Le Neve sale at John Wilcox's, London, on 22 February-19 March 1730/1, nor are they among Le Neve manuscripts in the British Library).

A boxful of yet other papers of Browne was apparently lent by Lady Dorothy and Dr Edward Browne in 1682-3 to Thomas (later Archbishop) Tenison (1636-1715). Some of these papers were mislaid for some years but were recovered shortly before Tenison's death. From them Tenison edited Certain Miscellany Tracts (1683) and he had custody of the manuscript of Christian Morals which was afterwards published in 1716 under the auspices of Sir Thomas's daughter, Elizabeth Lyttleton. These manuscripts too, however, have since disappeared, as has the original manuscript of A Letter to a Friend which Dr Edward Browne edited in 1690. Finally, what may perhaps have been the bulk of Sir Thomas's papers was acquired by the great physician Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). They are now preserved in the Sloane papers in the British Library and constitute the major surviving collection of Browne manuscripts (see further below).

Browne's Library

As for Sir Thomas's library, over 2,300 lots (amounting to nearly 2,900 volumes, in various languages) Of the Libraries of the Learned Sir Thomas Brown, and Dr. Edward Brown, his Son were offered for sale by the London bookseller Thomas Ballard in an auction beginning on 8 January 1710/11. Sloane's exemplum of the (now extremely are) sale catalogue is in the British Library (S.C. 354). A facsimile of the exemplum at Yale has been published in facsimile, edited by Jeremiah S. Finch, in Leiden, 1986. A discussion of the earlier manuscript catalogues of the library also appears in Jeremiah S. Finch, Sir Thomas Browne's Library, English Language Notes, 19/4 (June 1982), 360-70.

Since Sir Thomas seems not to have been in the habit of signing his books, none of them sold in 1711 can be identified today, although Jeremiah Finch has speculated, quite plausibly, that some of them may well have been acquired by Sloane and may now be sitting unrecognized (and unrecognizable) on the shelves of the British Library. As Finch has noted, yet another curious avenue of possibility presents itself with the knowledge that the second day of the sale may conceivably have been attended by Jonathan Swift and his friend Charles Ford, who went on that day into the city to buy books (Journal to Stella, ed. Harold Williams (Oxford, 1948), I, 161). A selected portion of the Blaenpant Library formed by Browne's grandson by marriage Owen Brigstocke was sold at Sotheby's on 21 December 1921 (lots 561-645) and included a total of five items specifically associated with the Browne family, viz:

Lot 573, J. Leland's Cygnea Cantio (1658) with the autograph signature of Dr. Browne in two places, sold to Dobell. Later acquired by Sir Geoffrey Keynes (his Bibliotheca Bibliographici No. 1333, now among Keynes's books in Cambridge University Library). It bears the signature of Edward Browne and beneath this…the title of the book…written in his father's hand (Keynes, Bibliography, pp. 165-6).
Lot 612, Brigstocke's exemplum of Edward Browne's A Brief Account of some Travels in divers Parts of Europe (1685), sold to G.R. Brigstocke.
Lot 621, P. Della Valle's Travels into East-India and Arabia Deserta (1665) with the armorial bookplate of Edward Browne, 1701, pasted on the back of the title, sold to Thorp.
Lot 640, M. de Scudery's Celia (1678) with on the fly-leaf the autograph signature of Thomas Browne, 1699, grandson of Sir Thomas Browne of Norwich sold to G. Brigstocke. Later acquired by Sir Geoffrey Keynes (Bibliotheca Bibliographici No. 1334), and now in Cambridge University Library. It contains no evidence of Sir Thomas's ownership.
Lot 641, Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (11th edition, 1662) with the autograph signature of Anne Brigstocke (grand-daughter of Sir Thomas Browne of Norwich), on the title, sold to Winter.

In his Bibliography, p. 166, Keynes also mentions an exemplum of Edward Topsell's The Reward of Religion (1601) which was reported by Fleming Patrick in 1920 to contain the autograph of Sir Thomas Browne when a young man at college. In addition, an exemplum of M. Carter's Analysis of Honour and Armory (1660) with autograph and some MS. notes by Sir Thomas Browne was offered for sale at Sotheby's, 18 June 1861 (the Rev T.P. White sale), lot 509 (apparently unsold). Nothing is known, however, about the authenticity of these signatures. Apart from certain exempla of Browne's own works (discussed below), only one other book is recorded by Keynes as having been associated with Browne: namely, the exemplum of John Evelyn's Sculptura (1662) which the author gave to Browne, with his presentation inscription, and which is now in the Pierpont Morgan Library (7700).

For a more extensive discussion of the dispersal of Browne's library and papers, see Jeremiah S. Finch's articles, Sir Hans Sloane's Printed Books, The Library, 4th Ser. 22 (1941-2), 67-72; Sir Thomas Browne: Early Biographical Notices, and the Disposition of his Library and Manuscripts, Studies in Bibliography, 2 (1949-50), 196-201; and Sir Thomas Browne's Library, English Language Notes, 19 (1982), 360-70, as well as Keynes, Bibliography, pp. 109-10, 163-8, and Martin, pp. 258-60.

The Catalogue of Browne's Manuscripts and his Editor Simon Wilkin

A Catalogue of manuscripts. written by and in the possession of Sir Thomas Browne, M.D. late of Norwich, and of his Son, Dr. Edward Browne, late President of the College of Physicians, London — a list possibly drawn up shortly before the library sale in 1711 — is among the Rawlinson collections in the Bodleian (MS Rawl. D. 390, ff. 73r-6r) and is edited in Wilkin, IV, 466-76. Of the 112 items listed there (viz. 20 in folio, 55 in quarto and 26 in octavo, plus eleven sets of miscellaneous papers), all but thirteen were conjecturally identified by Wilkin with manuscripts in the Sloane and Rawlinson collections, so that, in 1835, he was able confidently to assure his readers that he had fully accounted for the complete extant writings of Sir Thomas Browne, if not for all the manuscripts once owned by him. A few of those manuscripts which Wilkin failed to locate can be identified (see BrT 18, *BrT 27 and *BrT 55), while Miscellaneous Papers No. 8 (A Journey from Genoa to Bordeaux, which was actually written by Browne's grandson, Dr Thomas Browne) is now Bodleian, MS Rawl. D. 125. One might also wonder whether his Quarto item 22, a copy of A Game at Chesse…by Tho. Middleton, an. 1620, corresponds to any of the six manuscripts of that play known today (see MiT 14-19).

Nevertheless, Wilkin's pioneering survey has never yet been superseded. Subsequent scholars have largely been deterred from making a systematic, as opposed to exploratory, investigation of the Browne manuscripts both on account of their anomalous nature and perhaps because of the lingering uncertainty that they have all been properly identified. The main collection is not preserved as a clearly defined series but has been scattered throughout the Sloane manuscripts in the British Library; moreover, Sir Thomas's papers are intermingled with those of his son, Dr Edward Browne, which in turn are sometimes bound up with manuscripts simply owned by them or even perhaps with other wholly unrelated papers. Confusion is compounded by the belief occasionally expressed that the hands of the two men are very similar and difficult to distinguish from one another — a belief supported, for instance, by the facsimile examples given in The Sloane Herbarium, ed. J.E. Dandy (London, 1958), Nos 24 and 25, where an example of Sir Thomas's hand and of Lady Dorothy Browne's hand (Sloane MS 4066, f. 275) is followed by an illustration of a letter by Edward Browne (Sloane MS 1861, f. 36) which, unbeknown to the editor, is also in Sir Thomas's hand, for it is one of his transcripts of his son's letters. Sir Thomas's handwriting is, in fact, quite distinctive, being for the most part a heavily accentuated and sometimes scarcely legible cursive, whereas Edward's hand, although degenerating over the years, is basically a conventional, neat, rounded late-seventeenth-century script with a certain tendency towards loops and curls quite alien to his father.

Remains and Collectanea

In the Remains and Collectanea entries (BrT 20-55), all those manuscripts in the Sloane and other collections containing any discernible trace of Sir Thomas's handwriting, in addition to certain copies of his writings, have been given separate entries. The only exceptions are original letters and documents by him which he sent to his correspondents and which are discussed hereafter. A further fifteen manuscripts in the British Library can be distinguished at present as containing examples of Dr Edward Browne's handwriting or of writings or compilations clearly produced by him: namely, Add. MS 5266 and Sloane MSS 1797, 1865, 1868, 1878, 1886, 1892, 1895, 1905-6, 1908, 1914, 1915A & B, 1922. These manuscripts include Edward's (largely autograph) travel journals, notebooks, lecture notes, medical papers, drawings, prescription books, correspondence and other writings and collections. Some of these (including those relating to Plutarch and to Cossacks) clearly relate to Edward Browne's own publications and certain of them have been edited in Wilkin and in Geoffrey Keynes' edition of A Journal of a Visit to Paris in the year 1664 (London, 1923).

Other documents relating to Edward Browne exist elsewhere in the British Library and in such repositories as the Natural History Museum, the Royal Society, and the Royal College of Physicians, of which he was President the last four years of his life. Journals by Sir Thomas Browne's second son, Lieutenant Thomas Browne (d.c.1667), are in Sloane MSS 1831 and 1900 (edited in Wilkin, I, 22-42, 119-28, and see also *BrT 28), while a number of writings by Sir Thomas's grandson, Dr Thomas Browne (1672-1710), are also found among the Sloane manuscripts (including MSS 1845-6 and 1899) and have been partly edited in Wilkin. A further fifty-one manuscripts are classified in the printed index of the Sloane manuscripts as once owned by Sir Thomas and Edward Browne: namely, Sloane MSS 1825-6, 1828, 1834, 1836-8, 1842, 1844, 1851-4, 1856-7, 1859, 1863-4, 1867, 1870, 1872-3, 1876-7, 1880-1, 1883-4, 1887-91, 1893-4, 1896-8, 1901-4, 1907, 1909, 1916-21, 1923. These manuscripts — by a variety of writers in various languages and ranging from medieval poems to 17th-century political tracts — bear no clearly discernible traces of Browne ownership and the British Library's classification of them is presumably based on Wilkin's conjectural identification of items in the Rawlinson Catalogue noted above.

The autograph remains of Sir Thomas himself comprise a series of miscellaneous notes and draft writings on a wide range of scientific, historical, philosophical and theological subjects. Sometimes in notebooks, at other times on loose leaves or sheaves of paper of different sizes bound up together later, Sir Thomas was generally accustomed to write on leaves on the rectos only, initially leaving the versos blank for subsequent additions and revisions. Besides containing a mine of random observations from which Browne could quarry material for recasting in lengthier works, his notes and drafts contain many passages written out two, three or even more times, indicating the process by which, as his biographer John Whitefoot wrote in 1712, he was wont to reorganize and refine his compositions after the Fashion of Great and Curious Wits. Many of the observations (including a lengthy Latin oration which he drafted out several times: see *BrT 22) were written for the use or instruction of his son Edward, who was evidently much beholden to his father. Sir Thomas also copied out for his own interest not only many of Edward's letters written from abroad but also whole passages from the accounts of his European travels (based on those letters) which Edward published in 1673 and 1677 and in which Sir Thomas took an editorial interest (see Arno Löffler, Sir Thomas Browne als Redaktor von Edward Brownes Travels, Anglia, 88 (1970), 337-40). Other drafts among the manuscripts were composed as communications to other scholarly correspondents such as Dr Christopher Merrett. It was among these and similar disordered papers that Thomas Tenison made a selection, disposing them into such a method as they seemed capable of, in order to publish what he called Certain Miscellany Tracts in 1683. It may or may not be true, as Tenison surmised, that Sir Thomas designed them for public use, although various of those tracts posthumously published between 1683 and 1716 appear to have reached a fairly polished, if not final, form. Although the dating of certain of the writings is controversial (A Letter to a Friend, for instance, may date from c.1656 or as late as the 1670s: see *BrT 5), it seems likely, from palaeographical as well as other evidence, that the majority of the surviving papers date from his later years, from the 1660s onwards. A notable exception is Sloane MS 1860 (*BrT 39), a Latin notebook written in a relatively neat, compact version of Sir Thomas's hand which has some affinity to his earlier extant letters (such as British Library, Add. MS 46378 (B), f. 1r-v: Keynes, IV, No. 169, dating from 1642). Except for *BrT 6 discussed below, there are no other clearly identifiable early examples of his hand. Thus it seems likely that the drafts and notebooks of his earlier and formative years, including the original manuscripts of his main published works, were disposed of during Sir Thomas's own lifetime when their usefulness to him had been exhausted.

In the 1820s and 1830s, Simon Wilkin undertook the mammoth task of transcribing these remains and selectively arranging the mass of amorphous material into publishable form under appropriate headings. (Collection of his papers relating to his edition are preserved in the Norfolk Record Office and at Harvard, fMS Eng 1017.) The task was repeated in the 1920s by Geoffrey Keynes. Despite the scope of these editions, and a few additional passages printed by later editors such as Martin and Endicott, it must not be supposed that Browne's entire autograph writings have yet been printed in full. Where multiple versions exist, editors have also tended, to a greater or lesser degree, to produce conflated texts, while even now it is not readily possible to identify in the manuscripts certain passages for which both Wilkin and Keynes cite incorrect references. There is continuing scope for scholars to establish relationships between passages in the manuscripts and Browne's known writings, as well as to date the various manuscripts and to identify more precisely some of that material that can only be described at present as miscellaneous. It is to be hoped that the forthcoming multi-volume Oxford edition of Browne's Complete Works will rise to this challenge.

Browne's Principal Works

In so far as they survive in clearly definable manuscript versions, those works by Sir Thomas published in his lifetime or in that of his children (up to 1716) are given entries in CELM in a distinct category (BrT 1-19), with cross-references to related material in the Remains and Collectanea section when appropriate. The only important early writing represented here is Browne's most famous work, Religio Medici, which was first published in an unauthorized edition by Andrew Crooke in 1642. In his preface to the first authorized edition in 1643, Browne testified that the work had been composed about seven yeares past for his private exercise and satisfaction but, after being communicated unto one, it became common unto many, and was by transcription successively corrupted untill it arrived in a most depraved copy at the presse. Some eight extant contemporary scribal copies of Religio Medici are known at present (BrT 7-14), some containing considerable textual discrepancies. In addition, there survives a fragment of Browne's own copiously annotated exemplum of the unauthorized edition (*BrT 6), a text which probably represents a stage in the preparation of his authorized edition of 1643, and which (as is evident from the repetition of some corrupt readings) was set up not from the author's original manuscript but from some other corrected exemplum of the unauthorized edition.

Printed Exempla of Browne's Works with his Autograph Corrections

Some other extant printed exempla of works by Browne have been recorded as containing the author's autograph corrections and, while not given separate entries, may be listed as follows.

An exemplum of a later edition of Religio Medici, that of 1672, in Norwich Central Library (now Norwich Studies Library) was found by Robin Robbins in the 1970s to contain some 29 autograph corrections by Browne. Similarly annotated, with some 35 autograph corrections, is the appended exemplum of the sixth edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1672) and these corrections are listed in Robbins, II, 1151-2 (Appendix E). Dr Robbins's own exemplum of the fourth edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1658) — an exemplum once owned by Sir Thomas's daughter Elizabeth Lyttleton and acquired at Sotheby's, 14 December 1976, Lot 175 — contains some thirteen autograph corrections by the author, which are listed in Robbins, II, 1150-1 (Appendix D).

By far the largest number of known author-corrected volumes, however, are of Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall and The Garden of Cyrus, which were published together in 1658. Relevant examples are discussed by John Carter in his edition of these works (London, 1932; 2nd edition, Cambridge, 1958) and in his articles Browne's Urne Buriall, TLS (22 August 1935), 528; Sir Thomas Browne's Autograph Corrections, The Library, 4th Ser. 19 (1938), 492-3; Urne Buriall, TLS (27 February 1943), 108; Browne's Urn Burial, The Library, 5th Ser. 2 (1947-8), 191-3; Browne's Hydriotaphia, TLS (30 August 1957), 519; and (with five facsimile examples) The Iniquity of Oblivion Foil'd, The Book Collector, 15 (Autumn 1966), 279-82. Further discussions appear in Jeremiah S. Finch's articles A Newly Discovered Urn Burial, The Library, 4th Ser. 19 (1938), 347-53, and An Author-Corrected Urne-Buriall, TLS (16 March 1940), 140, as well as in Keynes, Bibliography, pp. 73-4.

Known exempla of the edition of 1658 bearing the author's autograph corrections (no doubt others will come to light in due course) include volumes in the following repositories:

Alabama State University (45 corrections).
Bodleian, Arch. H. f. 20; once owned by John Carter (43 corrections).
British Library, C. 116. bb. 22 (40 corrections).
Columbia University (77 corrections).
Cornell University (three corrections).
Durham University Library, ELCB. C58B (42 corrections and with Browne's presentation inscription to John Robins).
Indiana University, Lilly Library, PR3327.U9 1658 (17 corrections).
McGill University, Montreal, Osler Library (47 corrections).
Robert S Pirie, New York (29 corrections, some in another hand, the volume given by Browne to D. Short, probably Dr Peregrine Short).
Princeton University, 3646.1.348.11 (39 corrections).
Trinity College, Cambridge, C. 11. 159 (44 corrections).
Yale, Ij B818 658 (16 corrections).

An exemplum of the second edition of the two works (also published in 1658) with various autograph corrections is appended to Robin Robbins's exemplum of the fourth edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica noted above. Another exemplum of the first edition of 1658 containing MS corrections in an unidentified hand, which may conceivably derive from those of the author, is at the University of Adelaide.

Letters

Further examples of Browne's hand are found in the surviving correspondence which he conducted not only with his sons but also with such learned contemporaries as Sir William Dugdale, John Aubrey, Henry Oldenburg (Secretary of the Royal Society), John Evelyn, Elias Ashmole, William Lilly, and Christopher Merrett, among others. These letters (many of which are virtually scientific tracts in themselves) probably represent only a fraction of the number once in existence. Some 217 letters by Browne are currently known, as well as a number sent to him by his correspondents. The majority of Browne's letters (of which the bulk date from after 1660 and are addressed to his son Edward) are found in the Rawlinson and Sloane manuscripts (BrT 20-55). They are preserved sometimes in the originals as sent, but more often in his retained autograph drafts or else in family copies.

Some 31 original letters by Browne are preserved elsewhere, in the following repositories:

Bodleian Library, MSS Ashmole 423, f. 166r; 1131, f. 314r; 1788, ff. 151r-5v; Aubrey 12, ff. 51r-4v; Tanner, 41, ff. 119r-21v; Tanner 285, ff. 101r, 130r-1v.
British Library, Add. MSS 4066, ff. 274r-6v; 46378(B), f. 1r-v; 48683, No. 58; Harley MS 4712, ff. 171r-2v; Sloane MS 3515, ff. 60-1.
Clark Library, Los Angeles.
University of Glasgow.
Harvard, fMS Eng 870 (12).
McGill University, Montreal.
Norfolk Record Office.
Pembroke College, Oxford.
Pierpont Morgan Library.
Robert S Pirie, New York.
Princeton (RT CO1, Box 2, Folders 23 and 24).
Royal Society, B.I. 153-6.
Yale, Osborn Collection.

Of these original letters only one (Keynes, IV, No. 169, noted above) dates from the 1640s, while no more than eleven (Keynes, IV, Nos. 179-80, 185, 187-90, 195, 199, 200, 202) date from the 1650s, the rest being written in the 1660s and later. Almost all of Browne's letters, together with some of those written to him, are edited in Keynes, Vol. IV (and see also Wilkin, Vol. I, and Robbins, II, 1164-76). A few letters that have found new locations since they were edited in Keynes are:

Keynes No. 180 (to Evelyn, 21 January 1659/60, formerly owned by Alfred Morrison and now at Princeton).
Keynes No. 195 (to Dugdale, 27 October 1658, the enclosure) formerly owned by Roger W. Barrett and now in the Pierpont Morgan Library.
Keynes No. 197 (to Dugdale, 10 November 1658), edited in Keynes from the retained draft, but the original letter sent is now in the Clark Library, Los Angeles, B 884L 1658 Nov. 10.
Keynes No. 200 and enclosure, sold at Sotheby's, 2 March 1965, lots 475 and 476, and now divided between Robert S Pirie and Princeton.
Keynes No. 235 (to a member of the Coke family, 24 December [no year]), now at Yale (Osborn Files/Browne).

An undated letter to Thomas Knyvett, not recorded in Keynes, is at Princeton, while another addition — a letter to Dugdale, 11 September 1661 (which should come after Keynes's No. 205) — was sold at Sotheby's, 21 July 1831 (William Hamper sale), lot 475, and 6 June 1859 (Dawson Turner sale), lot 577, to Holloway. This is now at Pembroke College, Oxford (Archive 63/1/1).

One of Dugdale's manuscript collections on draining in the Bodleian (MS Dugdale 49) once included several original letters by Browne. When sold as lot 177 in the Thomas Martin sale at Baker and Leigh's, viz. Sotheby's, on 29 April 1773, it allegedly contained 15 original Letters from Sir Thom. Brown in 1658. This collection presumably derived from lot 426 in the Peter Le Neve sale by John Wilcox in London on 22 February 1730/1, 12th day, folio. However, the letters are no longer present and might conceivably be among those letters to Dugdale known and located elsewhere.

Facsimile examples of autograph letters by Browne may be found in Greg, English Literary Autographs, Plate LXXXIX; in Sotheby's sale catalogue, 11 December 1917, lot 129; in Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, sale catalogue, 30 October-1 November 1950, lot 149; in Robert H. Taylor Collection, Princeton University Library Chronicle, 38 (1977), Plate 13, facing p. 145; in British Literary Autographs, Series I, ed. Verlyn Klinkenborg et al. (New York, 1981), No. 38; and in Maggs's sale catalogue No. 1272 (1999), item 27.

Documents

A few other autograph documents by Browne, not given entries, may also be mentioned as follows:

Two autograph certificates signed by Browne on behalf of Anthony Sparrow, Bishop of Norwich, dated 10 May 1679 and 22 October 1680, are in the Bodleian, MSS Tanner 38, f. 23r, and 47, f. 181r, and are edited in Keynes, IV, 399-400.

A draft of the second of these certificates is also in the British Library, Sloane MS 1848, f. 271r (see *BrT 36).

A similar certificate written by Browne on behalf of Robert Wenman of Norwich, 17 May 1670, is in the National Archives, Kew, SP 29/275/145.

For Browne's will see *BrT 61.

Verse

Scraps of verse occur periodically in Browne's notebooks (in BrT 20-55), as well as in Religio Medici, and are selectively edited in Keynes (III, 234-8). The principal items, including Upon a Tempest at Sea written at the Crowe Inne in Chester at his Coming from Ireland, and his most widely circulated poem, his Colloquy beginning The night is come like to the day, are given entries (BrT 0.1-0.97).

Miscellaneous

A few other items not given separate entries may be mentioned briefly.

A few medical prescriptions by Sir Thomas Browne found in the Harbord Household Book at Gunton Park, Norfolk, are printed in R.W. Ketton-Cremer, Sir Thomas Browne Prescribes, TLS (2 November 1951), 700, and are thence reprinted in Keynes, III, 463-5.

A free Latin translation by Dr Walter Charleton of Certain Miscellany Tracts No. XIII (Musaeum Clausum) is in the British Library (Sloane MS 3413, ff. 22-36) and is discussed by Jeremiah S. Finch in TLS (13 November 1937), p. 871.

Various printed exempla of Browne's works have notable readers' annotations, including, for instance:

A printed exemplum of Christian Morals (Cambridge, 1716), inscribed, dated (Dec: 9. 1715) and annotated by Browne's friend, the rector John Jeffrey (1647-1720). In the possession of Thomas Willard, who discusses it in John Jeffrey's Copy of Christian Morals, PBSA, 92/1 (March 1998), 81-4.
Browne's presentation exemplum of the second edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1650) to Francis Le Cros, with the latter's inscription Frances Le Gros: This booke given mee by the worthy Authour my Honor'd freinde, when I was one of his family, and most happy in beinge so: 1650. (Once owned by the Trumbull family, later Marquesses of Downshire. Hodgson's, 11 June 1926, lot 380. Sotheby's, 19 July 1990, lot 30, to Maggs.)
Exemplum of Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) annotated by Dr Christopher Wren, Dean of Windsor (Bodleian, O. 2. 26 Art. Seld.)
Exemplum of Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) annotated by George Daniel (1616-57) of Beswick (Christie's, 13 June 1979 (Arthur A. Houghton, Jr sale, Part I), lot 56, to Howell).
Exemplum of Religio Medici (1642), together with Digby's Observations on Religio Medici (1644), annotated by Dr Christopher Wren, Dean of Windsor (Chr: Wren ex dono R^di. Patris 1643) (Cardiff Central Library, MS 1. 160).
An exemplum of Religio Medici (1643) annotated by Thomas Keck of the Temple in preparation for his edition of the work in 1656 (Bodleian, 8° Rawl. 675).
John Evelyn's annotated exemplum of Certain Miscellany Tracts (1683) (Norwich Central Library, L 234905).
Hester Lynch Thrale, Mrs Piozzi's annotated exemplum of the fifth edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica (together with Hydriotaphia and The Garden of Cyrus, 1669) at the University of Virginia. This volume is discussed in Majl Ewing, Mrs. Piozzi peruses Dr. Thomas Browne, PQ, 22 (1943), 111-18.

Items that have, however, been given entries are contemporary manuscripts of a notable early critique of Browne's Religio Medici by Sir Kenelm Digby (BrT 57-61) and some nineteenth- and twentieth-century editorial papers (BrT 62-64).

Abbreviations

Endicott: The Prose of Sir Thomas Browne, ed. Norman Endicott (New York & London, 1968).
Keynes: The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, ed. Geoffrey Keynes [1st edition, 6 vols, London, 1928-31], 2nd edition, 4 vols (London, 1964).
Keynes, Bibliography: Sir Geoffrey Keynes, A Bibliography of Sir Thomas Browne, Kt. M.D. [1st edition, Cambridge, 1924], 2nd edition (Oxford, 1968).
Martin: Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici and other Works, ed. L.C. Martin (Oxford, 1964).
Robbins: Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, ed. Robin Robbins, 2 vols (Oxford, 1981).
Wilkin: Sir Thomas Browne's Works including his Life and Correspondence, ed. Simon Wilkin, 4 vols (London & Norwich, 1835-6).

Verse

'The Almond flourisheth, the Birch trees flowe'

Anonymous. First published in The Commonplace Book of Elizabeth Lyttelton, ed. Geoffrey Keynes (Cambridge, 1919), p. 27. Keynes, III, 236.

BrT 0.1

Copy.

Edited from this MS in both Keynes volumes.

A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, predominantly in one female roman hand, written from both ends, 174 pages, in contemporary calf.

Compiled by members of Sir Thomas Browne's family, chiefly his daughter Elizabeth Lyttelton (b. c.1648), containing various works in verse and prose including copies of a passage by Sir Thomas on consumptions (p. 43), a list of books which he had Elizabeth read out to him (pp. 44-5), copies of notes by him (pp. 77-76 rev.), his poem Upon a Tempest at Sea (pp. 94-93 rev.) and verses beginning the Almond flourisheth ye Birch trees flowe (p. 72); some of the verses in other hands including poems by Donne, Corbett, Wotton, Cartwright, William Browne, Ralegh, Katherine Phillips and others.

Late 17th century

Inscriptions (p. 1) Mary Browne (who d.1676) and James Dodsley and (p. 174) Mar. 11^th 1713/4 The gift of M^rs Lyttelton to Edward Tenison. Percy Dobell's sale catalogue The Literature of the Restoration (1918), item 1240. Bookplate of the Royal College of Medicine, London. Owned by Sir Geoffrey Keynes (Bibliotheca Bibliographici, No. 1301).

This MS volume described in [Geoffrey Keynes], A Daughter of Sir Thomas Browne, TLS (4 September 1919), p. 420. Discussed in Victoria E. Burke, Contexts for Women's Manuscript Miscellanies: The Case of Elizabeth Lyttelton and Sir Thomas Browne, Yearbook of English Studies, 33 (2003), 316-28. Edited selectively by Geoffrey Keynes as The Commonplace Book of Elizabeth Lyttelton, Daughter of Sir Thomas Browne (Cambridge, 1919). The passages by Browne also edited in Keynes, I, 120-1, and III, 236-7, 331-2.

Cambridge University Library, Additional MSS 7000 through end (MS Add. 8460 p. 72 rev.)

'And if the Dogstarre up hath dranck'

A four-line fragment published in Keynes, III, 234.

*BrT 0.2

Autograph

Autograph fragment of four lines, introduced ...these four verses which wer part of a coppy w^ch I made upon his [T. M.'s] death.

Edited from this MS in Keynes.

A notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, with a few inserted leaves, 118 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.

c.1668

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1869 f. 5r)

Colloquy with God ('The night is come like to the day')

First published in Religio Medici, where Browne describes it as the dormitive I take to bedward…to make me sleepe. Published later, in an anonymous musical setting, in Harmonia Sacra, II (1693). Keynes, I, 89-90.

BrT 0.3

Copy, headed D^r: Browne, Verses, and dated Decemb: 420^th: Paris. 1655.

An octavo notebook of largely ecclesiastical prose and some verse, chiefly in Latin, English and French, in a cursive italic hand, possibly a second hand on ff. 59r-66r, written from both ends, 96 leaves (including some blanks), in contemporary calf, with metal clasps.

Compiled probably by an English cleric in France, who writes (f. 1v) I came to Maule. Aug. 16^th at night, 1656 and (f. 16r) records visiting Lord Hatton at his house in St Germains, Paris, where he is shown books and manuscripts, on 1 August NS 1656.

c.1656-8

Christie's, 27 March 1985, lot 154.

Dr Peter Beal, London (Common Place Book f. 93v-r rev.)

BrT 0.4

Copy.

A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, in a single small hand, 31 leaves, in contemporary half-calf over marbled boards, imperfect.

A label on the cover: D^r. Lynnet's Common Place Book: i.e. compiled by Dr William Lynnet (1622/3-1700), of Trinity College, Cambridge.

c.1643

Inscribed Ri. Walker 1758. some years agoe M^r. Brigg bought this Common place book in Smithfield, and gave it to RW. Inscriptions dated 1792 by Thomas Bousefield (or possibly James Simpson), wheelwright of Kendal. Purchased from J.W. Jarvis & Son, 30 January 1891.

Bodleian Library, Eng. misc. MSS (MS Eng. misc. e. 13 f. 29r)

BrT 0.5

Copy, untitled.

An octavo verse miscellany and notebook, in several italic hands, written from both ends, 64 unnumbered leaves, in contemporary calf.

Compiled chiefly by members of the Grosvenor family, of Downton, Radnorshire (now Shropshire).

c.1681-1732

Various inscriptions including Teverra Byrd, Teverra Grosvenor of Downton 1731, and Rich: Grosvenor his Book Given him p M^rs Teverra Grosvenor in the Year of Our Lord God Ano Dom 1730. Also including earlier notes, dated 1681, relating to persons excommunicated since J: Sayer came to Old Radnor.

A microfilm of this volume is in the National Library of Wales.

Cardiff Central Library (MS 1.142 f. [19r])

BrT 0.6

Copy, untitled.

A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in several cursive hands, viii + 136 pages, in contemporary calf.

Late 17th century

Ownership inscription (p. [iv]) by Edward Dowden (1843-1913), of Trinity College, Dublin. Colbeck Radford & Co., undated sale catalogue, item 207. Item 117 in an unidentified sale catalogue.

Harvard, other MSS (MS Eng 624 p. [132])

BrT 0.7

Copy, headed A Night Poem.

An octavo verse miscellany, chiefly translations of classical texts, predominantly in one clear hand up to p. 151, with additions in other hands over a period, written from both ends, 273 pages (plus a number of blanks), in half-calf marbled boards.

Early 18th century

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 123 pp. 65-6)

BrT 0.8

Copy, subscribed Script per me. D: T: Jan: y^e 5^th. 1702.

A small narrow folio miscellany of verse and some prose, in several hands, 136 leaves, in vellum boards.

Compiled probably over a period by members of the Stringer family of Sharlston.

Early 18th century

Among archives of the Fane family, Earls of Westmorland, of Apethorpe.

Northamptonshire Record Office (W(A) Misc Vol 20 f. 33v)

BrT 0.9

Copy, headed D^r Browns dormative to bedward.

Cited in Religio Medici as Browne's Colloquy with God and the dormitive I take to bedward…to make me sleepe. The poem was also published later, in Harmonia Sacra, II (1693), in an anonymous musical setting. Edited in The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, ed. Geoffrey Keynes [1st edition, 6 vols, London, 1928-31], 2nd edition, 4 vols (London, 1964), I, pp. 89-90.

A quarto verse miscellany, in probably a single mixed hand varying over a period, entitled in another hand Recueil Choisi De Pieces fugitives En Vers Anglois, 214 pages, in modern calf.

c.1713

Afterwards owned by Charles de Beaumont, the Chevalière d'Éon (1728-1810). Later owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872): Phillipps MS 9500. In the Shakespearian Library of Marsden J. Perry (1850-1935), industrialist, banker, and art and book collector, of Providence, Rhode Island. American Art Association, New York, 11-12 March 1936.

The Rosenbach Museum & Library, numbers 1 through 239 (MS 239/16 p. 36)

BrT 0.91

Copy.

A small quarto miscellany of anecdotes, aphorisms, verses, etc., in two hands, compiled by Sir Francis Fane (c.1612-80), 193 leaves, in contemporary vellum.

Inscribed by Fane on f. 1r Aug: 24: 1629 / Franciscus Fane and, later, as a bequest to his three grandsons to be read by them when aged 21, dated from Fulbeck, 5 May 1672.

c.1629-72

Sold by Maggs, 29 May 1930.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Record Office (ER 93/2 f. 1v)

'Diseases are the armes wherby'

Twelve lines, published in Keynes, III, 236.

*BrT 0.92

Autograph

Autograph copy, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Keynes.

A notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, with a few inserted leaves, 118 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.

c.1668

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1869 f. 7v)

An Epitaph on Monsieur Poliander ('Here lys deposited in trust')

Epitaph of forty lines on the Professor of Divinity at Leiden (d. c.1645). Published in Keynes, III, 237-8.

BrT 0.93

Copy, introduced this following Epitaph made by Doctor Broun, a fine Poet.

Edited from this MS in Keynes.

A large folio letterbook of Philip Stanhope (1633-1713), second Earl of Chesterfield, in a single neat hand, written from both ends, 211 leaves, in modern half red morocco.

Early 18th century

Sale of Charles K. Sharpe, 7 January 1852, lot 2330. Purchased from Boone 11 December 1852.

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 18000 through 19999 (Add. MS 19253 f. 210r rev)

'The courteous Sunn with dust & lowlie mire'

Four lines, published in Keynes, III, 236.

*BrT 0.94

Autograph

Autograph copy.

Edited from this MS in Keynes.

A notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, with a few inserted leaves, 118 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.

c.1668

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1869 f. 8r)

Upon a Tempest at Sea ('Whither yea angry winds? What beath')

First published in The Commonplace Book of Elizabeth Lyttelton, ed. Geoffrey Keynes (Cambridge, 1919), p. 21. Keynes, III, 236-7.

*BrT 0.95

Autograph

Autograph copy of 18 lines, introduced of those upon a Tempest I was on the Irish seas I can call to mind only these and subscribed The rest I haue vtterly forgott.

Edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 234-5.

A notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, with a few inserted leaves, 118 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.

c.1668

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1869 f. 5r-v)

BrT 0.96

Copy of the complete poem, subscribed Writt by my Father at the Crowe Inne in Chester at his Coming from Ireland.

Edited from this MS in Commonplace Book of Elizabeth Lyttelton, p. 21, and in Keynes, III, 236-7.

A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, predominantly in one female roman hand, written from both ends, 174 pages, in contemporary calf.

Late 17th century

Cambridge University Library, Additional MSS 7000 through end (MS Add. 8460 pp. 94-93 rev.)

'Wee scorne those iudgments which adore'

Thirty lines, published in Keynes, III, 235.

*BrT 0.97

Autograph

Autograph copy, introduced The other verses upon a different subiect were these.

Edited from this MS in Keynes.

A notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, with a few inserted leaves, 118 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.

c.1668

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1869 ff. 5v, 7r)

Prose

Works Published no later than 1716

An Account of Island, alias Ice-land in the yeare 1663

First published in Posthumous Works (London, 1712). Wilkin, IV, 254-6. Keynes, III, 345-6.

*BrT 1

Autograph

Autograph draft of a letter about Iceland which Browne communicated to the Royal Society, in one of the volumes of his miscellaneous papers (BrT 51); 15 January 1663.

Edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 345-6. Related letters by the Rev. Theodor Jonas are at the Royal Society, Classified Papers VII (1) 9.

A folio composite volume (originally three separate MSS, now bound together with continuous foliation); comprising letters and papers of Sir Thomas Browne and his son Dr Edward Browne, 111 leaves.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MSS 1911-13 ff. 90r-1r)

Brampton Urns

First published in Posthumous Works (London, 1712). Wilkin, III, 497-505. Keynes, I, 229-38.

*BrT 2 c.1668

Autograph

Autograph early draft, on two folio leaves.

Edited in part from this MS in Keynes.

A folio composite volume of letters and papers of Sir Thomas Browne, 111 leaves.

Including an autograph letter by Browne (ff. 28-30), copies of 17 letters by him and two by his wife Dorothy all in the hand of his daughter Elizabeth (later Lyttelton) (ff. 81-8), an autograph draft of Brampton Urns (ff. 53-4v) and autograph notes on Greenland (f. 111), together with some 24 letters sent to Sir Thomas by various correspondents (ff. 3-10v, 15-21, 26-7v, 36-7v, 52v-v, 55-6v, 59v-63, 65-8, 71-80, 100-10v) and four letters addressed to Dr Edward Browne (ff. 1-2v, 22-24av, 64); with other miscellaneous tracts and papers in other hands. (passim).

The letters of Sir Thomas edited in Wilkin, I (passim), and in Keynes, IV, Nos. 1-13, 18, 138, 141, 143-4. Certain of the letters to Sir Thomas (by Digby, Evelyn and L'Estrange) edited in Keynes, IV, Nos. 168, 181, 186. The notes on Greenland edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 475, and in Keynes, III, 347-8. For Brampton Urns, see BrT 2.

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, other shelfmarks (MS Rawl. D. 391 ff. 53r-4v)

*BrT 3

Autograph

Autograph later draft, headed Concerning some urns found in Brampton feild in Norfolk 1667.

Edited chiefly from this MS in Keynes.

A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 94 leaves.

c.1668

For A Letter to a Friend and Brampton Urns, see BrT 5 and BrT 3. Passages relating to Hydriotaphia edited from this MS in Martin, pp. 268-9. Those relating to Christian Morals collated in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim), and one of them edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 291. A facsimile page in Chris Fletcher et al., 1000 Years of English Literature: A Treasury of Literary Manuscripts (British Library, 2003), p. 71.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1862 ff. 26r-37r)

*BrT 4

Autograph

Autograph draft of a portion of the text.

This MS recorded in Keynes, I, 231.

A notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, with a few inserted leaves, 118 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.

c.1668

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1869 ff. 60r-1r)

Certain Miscellany Tracts

First published (viz. 13 tracts, edited by Archbishop Tenison) in London, 1683. Wilkin, IV, 115-250. Keynes, III, 1-120.

See also BrT 21, BrT 24, BrT 29, BrT 32, BrT 33, BrT 36, BrT 37, and BrT 46.

*BrT 4.1

Autograph

Autograph draft versions (some incomplete) of nine of the Certain Miscellany Tracts: viz. Nos. XI [Of the Answers for the Oracle of Apollo] (ff. 2-9), X [Of Troas] (ff. 9-13, 17v-18), III [Of the Fishes] (f. 19), V [Of Hawks] (ff. 23-69), VIII [Of Languages] (ff. 27-39), IX [Of Artificial Hills] (ff. 39v-43), IV [An Answer to Certain Queries] (ff. 55-7), VII [Of Ropalic] (ff. 57v-8v), VI [Of Cymbals] (ff. 58-9) [B] A breif reply to severall Queries, which forms in effect an addition to Certain Miscellany Tracts (ff. 48v-55, 55v); [C] a letter about the improprietie, falsetie, or mistakes in picturall draughts which may also relate to Certain Miscellany Tracts (ff. 14-17).

The drafts of Certain Miscellany Tracts [A] collated in part in Wilkin, IV, xv-xvi, 179-230, and in Keynes III, 53-102; Tract VIII discussed by N.J. Endicott in Sir Thomas Browne, Montpellier, and the Tract Of Languages, TLS (24 August 1962), p. 645, and also in UTQ 36 (1966-7), 68-86 (p. 85). The breif reply [B] edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 281-6, and (but for the passage on f. 57v) in Keynes, III, 224-9. The letter [C] edited from the MS — as, erroneously, an additional passage for Pseudodoxia Epidemica — in Wilkin, III, 157-61, and in Keynes, III, 221-3, but see Robbins, II, 946.

A folio composite volume of autograph drafts by Sir Thomas Browne, 86 leaves.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1827 passim)

BrT 4.2

Extracts from No. II (Of Garlands), headed A catalogue of exoticke coronary or garland plants mentioned in Sir Tho. Brown's Miscellaneous Tracts, Lond. 1683.

An octavo miscellany on botanical subjects, 246 leaves.

Late 17th century

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 2346 ff. 179v-81r)

BrT 4.3

Extracts, inscribed urn-burial.

A folio miscellany of extracts, in a single cursive hand, 351 leaves, in modern half brown morocco on marbled boards.

c.1685-1700s

Sotheby's, 13 July 1855, lot 1364.

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 20000 through 24999 (Add. MS 21107 ff. 301r-2v)

BrT 4.4

Copy of No. XII, in a rounded hand, headed writ by S^r Thomas Browne D^r of Physick in Norwich upon occation of an old Prophecie sent him by a Friend to read, on five folio pages.

Late 17th century

Greffe (Bailiff's MS collection No. 126 (iii) (Volume List p. 73))

Christian Morals

First published in Cambridge, 1716. Wilkin, IV, 53-114. Keynes, I, 239-95. Martin, pp. 197-247. Endicott, pp. 365-442.

See BrT 21, BrT 34, BrT 35, BrT 36, BrT 41, BrT 43, BrT 48, and BrT 50.

The Garden of Cyrus

First published with Hydriotaphia (London, 1658). Wilkin, III, 375-448. Keynes, I, 173-227. Martin, pp. 127-76. Endicott, pp. 287-344. Also edited (with Urne Buriall) by John Carter (Cambridge, 1958).

See BrT 35, BrT 42, BrT 47, and BrT 49.

Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall

First published with The Garden of Cyrus (London, 1658). Wilkin, III, 449-96. Keynes. I, 123-72. Martin, pp. 81-125. Endicott, pp. 241-86. Also edited (with The Garden of Cyrus) by John Carter (Cambridge, 1958).

See BrT 36 and BrT 41.

BrT 4.5 Mid-late 17th century

Extracts.

A folio composite volume of MSS.

The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 825 ff. 48r-51r)

A Letter to a Friend

First published in London, 1690. Wilkin, IV, 33-51. Keynes, I, 95-121. Martin, pp. 177-96. Endicott, pp. 345-63.

Remains and Collectanea

*BrT 20

Autograph

Chiefly comprising 24 autograph letters by Sir Thomas (some in draft) chiefly to his son Edward, 1668-82 (ff. 40-1v, 48-9v, 56-73v, 75-98v, 105, one including a letter by Sir Thomas's daughter Elizabeth) and three original letters by Edward to his father (ff. 34-9v); with autograph passages by Sir Thomas on the Pharsalian Fields (ff. 50-3v) and on the natural history of Norfolk (ff. 103-4v) and autograph verses beginning Caesar and Pompey now are met (f. 74); ff. 1-33, 42-7, 54-5v, 99-102, 106v-12 comprising historical and medical collections, treatises and verses in other hands, certain of them relating to Dr Edward Browne.

The letters by Sir Thomas edited in Keynes, IV, Nos. 20, 22-3, 29, 39, 48, 69-70, 78-9, 84, 99, 105, 118, 122, 131, 135-7, 151, 163-4, 215-16. Letters by both Sir Thomas and Dr Edward Browne edited selectively in Wilkin, I, passim. Miscellaneous drafts on ff. 50-3v, 74, 103-4v edited in Keynes, III, 262-5, 415-16. Facsimile of f. 105 in Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk...from the MSS of Sir Thomas Browne, ed. Thomas Southwell (London, 1902), frontispiece.

A quarto composite volume of papers of Sir Thomas Browne (1605-82) and his son Edward (1644-1708), 112 leaves.

Late 17th century

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, other shelfmarks (MS Rawl. D. 108 The MS as a whole)

*BrT 21

Autograph

Autograph notebook, 71 quarto leaves.

Entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand except for f. 51, including drafts of his Oratio anniversary Harveaiana (ff. 1-16v) and of another Latin oration on anatomy (ff. 17-20), notes on Vienna relating to Dr Edward Browne's travels (f. 25), miscellaneous notes on natural history (f. 23), figures in nature(f. 24), draining (ff. 48-9), Turkey (ff. 54v-63) and other subjects; some miscellaneous passages on moral subjects (on ff. 21f-2, 27-45, 50, 52, 53v, 64-7v) relating to Christian Morals; a draft passage on ff. 46-7 relating to Certain Miscellany Tracts No. 1 [Upon several plants mention'd in Scripture]; and notes on f. 68 relating to Repertorium.

Various notes edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 248 255-6, 357-8. Passages relating to Christian Morals collated in part in Keynes, I, 291, and in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim). For the Oratio, see BrT 22 and also BrT 31, BrT 36, BrT 44.

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, other shelfmarks (MS Rawl. D. 109)

BrT 22

Copy of the Oratio anniversaria Harveiana in the hand of Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755), on eight quarto leaves.

This Latin oration composed by Sir Thomas for his son Dr Edward Browne to deliver at the College of Physicians in 1680, although it was not in fact used. The text was first printed (from other sources) in Wilkin, IV, 343-52, also (with an English translation) in Keynes, III, 188-205. For other texts see BrT 21, BrT 31, BrT 36, BrT 44.

A quarto composite volume of Oxford academic orations in Latin, 61 leaves.

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, other shelfmarks (MS Rawl. D. 272 ff. 54r-61r)

*BrT 23

Autograph

A folio composite volume of letters and papers of Sir Thomas Browne, 111 leaves.

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, other shelfmarks (MS Rawl. D. 391 The MS as a whole)

*BrT 24

Autograph

A folio composite volume of papers of Sir Thomas Browne, chiefly autograph, 113 leaves (including blanks), different sizes.

Including autograph notes and passages on preserving health (in Latin) (ff. 4-5v), on bridges (ff. 8-9), on dolphins (f. 11), on an old woman (Boulimia centenaria, f. 14, with a copy in another hand on f. 15), on echoes (ff. 32-3v) and on gardens (ff. 40-1v), and autograph copies of passages relating to the travels of his son Dr Edward Browne (ff. 24-8); autograph incomplete or imperfect draft versions of two of the Certain Miscellany Tracts (viz. Nos. XII [A Prophecy] and VIII [Of Languages]) (ff. 18-19v, 36-7v); nine original letters by Dr Edward Browne to his father, 1668-9 (ff. 52-84v); part of an original letter by M. Escaillot to Sir Thomas (f. 20r-v), and historical and medical notes, tracts and orations in the hand of Edward Browne and others (ff. 43-50v, 87-104).

Late 17th century

Various of these miscellaneous passages by Sir Thomas selectively edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 340, 372-4, and in Keynes, III, 242-3, 348-9. The two Miscellany Tracts edited in part from this MS in Endicott, pp. 425-38, 448-52; collated in part in Wilkin, IV, 195-212, 231-8, and in Keynes, III, 103-8. See also BrT 37.

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, other shelfmarks (MS Rawl. letters 58)

BrT 25

A large composite folio volume, 90 leaves.

Described (? by Sir Hans Sloane) as Some original drawings of Towns, castles, Antiquities, Medals &c by D^r Edward Brown in his Travels Preserved by his Father Thomas Brown. Who hath write upon sev^ll of them what they are, in Edward Browne's hand but many of the drawings of towns and topographical features also containing annotations in Sir Thomas's autograph (notably ff. 18, 20, 21, 51, 67, 68, 82), many other pages containing extensive passages in Sir Thomas's hand taken from Dr Edward Browne's accounts of his European travels in 1668-9 (notably ff. 12, 14, 33-4, 40, 75-6, 78-9v, 80, 87), including Sir Thomas's copy of Edward's list of Citties and considerable places which I have seen (ff. 89-90v); Sir Thomas's annotation also on a drawing of a tongue (f. 3) and further autograph observations by him on medals and coins (f. 49) and on plants (ff. 84-5v).

Sir Thomas's observations on plants in this MS recorded and edited in part in Wilkin, IV, 367, and in Keynes, III, 374 (where the source is erroneously cited as MS Sloane 523, ff. 58-9). Facsimile of f. 68 (erroneously cited as f. 58) [annotated drawing of the Pont du Gard] in Endicott, p. 482.

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 5000 through 5999 (Add. MS 5233)

BrT 26

Elephant folio, 109 leaves; composite volume of maps and drawings.

A composite volume of maps and drawings by (or collected by) Dr Edward Browne, of topographical and local scenes, monuments, birds, ships or other subjects, the majority relating to Persia and Turkey, a few also relating to his travels in Italhy, Germany and France, some annotated by Dr Edward Browne himself, others bearing autograph descriptions copied in the hand of Sir Thomas Browne, notably accounts of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (f. 34) and notes on colouring (f. 36), Turkish costume (f. 67), towns in Germany (f. 85) and Bordeaux (f. 104).

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 5000 through 5999 (Add. MS 5234)

*BrT 27

Autograph

Folio, 18 leaves.

Copy in a scribal hand of a tract by Rafael Micoleta on the language of Vizcaya, 1653 (ff. 1-15), followed by passages in Sir Thomas Browne's hand on The Lords prayer in the cantabrian, visayna or present Bascuenza Languadge out of paulus merula cosmographie part 2 lib 2 (f. 16), The Apostles creed in the same Languadge (f. 17) and (following a pasage in Icelandic in another hand, ?that of the rev. Theodore Jonas) The Lords prayer in the present languadge of Island (f. 18).

The volume later owned by Sir Thomas Browne's grandson by marriage, Owen Brigstocke (1679-1746).

This MS briefly discussed in Keynes, III, 83, and in N.J. Endicott, Sir Thomas Browne, Montpellier, and the tract Of Languages, TLS (24 August 1962), p. 645. This MS corresponds to Folio item 7 in the Rawlinson Catalogue of Browne's MSS printed in Wilkin, IV, 467.

The British Library: Harley Collection, numbers 6000 through 6999 (Harley MS 6314)

*BrT 28

Autograph

Folio, 37 leaves (plus blanks); notebook, largely autograph.

Comprising [A] Sir Thomas Browne's autograph copies of correspondence with his second son, Lieutenant Thomas Browne (d. c.1667) in 1666-7, including Admiral John Kempthorne's General Orders at Sea (f. 16r-v); [B] Sir Thomas's autograph copy of Verses [by Thomas] at the end of his Horace & Juvenal which hee had with him at Sea (ff. 20-1) and verses written on board the Marie Rose (f. 21); [C] Sir Thomas's autograph copy of his son Thomas's account of My Journey from Bourdeaux to Paris in 1662 (ff. 22-9); [D] an incomplete copy in another hand of the younger Thomas Browne's journal for part of 1666, headed in Sir Thomas's hand from the Thames to falmouth (ff. 31-7v); [E] other family notes (ff. 1, 30r-v [dated 1702]).

The correspondence [A] edited in Wilkin, I, 128-34, 141-9. One of the letters (by Sir Thomas) in Keynes, IV, No. 17. The account [C] edited in Wilkin, I, 17-22. The journal [D] edited in Wilkin, I, 134-42.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1745)

*BrT 29 Mid-late 17th century

Autograph

Autograph drafts by Browne including [D] two Latin epistles, one to a friend intending a difficult work (Amico opus arduum meditantij) (ff. 61-4), the other to a friend on his wearisome chatterer (Amico clarissimo de enecante garrulo suo) (ff. 82v-6); [E] passages on public execution which relate to Pseudodoxia Epidemica, VI, Chapter 21 (ff. 20-2); [F] a series of miscellaneous drafts and observations: on Kircher's treatise De peste (ff. 44-8), naval fights (in English and Latin) (ff. 59v-60v, 65-8), dice (De astragalo aut talo) (ff. 69-70), a reading of Athenaeus (nonnulla a Lectione Athenaei scripta) (ff. 71-7) and a reading of Athenaeus, Platina and Apicius on cookery (nonnulla a Lectione Athenaei Platinae Apicii de re culinaria conscripta) (ff. 77-81).

The Latin epistles [D] edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 290-3, 309-12, and (with English translations) in Keynes, III, 150-5, 181-8; facsimile of the last line and signature on f. 86 in Greg, English Literary Autographs, No. LXXXIX (b). The passages relating to Pseudodoxia Epidemica [E] edited from this MS in Robbins, II, 990-5. The miscellaneous drafts [F] edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 277-80, 287-9, 294-308, and (with an English translation of the main Latin passages) in Keynes, III, 155-88, 249-54.

A folio composite volume of autograph drafts by Sir Thomas Browne, 86 leaves.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1827 The MS as a whole)

*BrT 30

Autograph

Folio, 46 leaves (plus blanks); composite volume of correspondence between Sir Thomas Browne and Dr Christopher Merrett, comprising four autograph draft letters by Browne to Merrett (ff. 5-44) and two letters from Merrett to Browne (ff. 1-4); the first letter by Browne (ff. 5-38, with additions on f. 45), consisting of a series of notes on the natural history of Norfolk, chiefly on birds and fishes and (ff. 10-11) on the ostrich.

[1688-9]

The notes on natural history edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 313-39 (passim), and in Keynes, III, 354-6, 401-10, 417-26, 430-1. The remaining letters edited in Wilkin, I, 395-403, 442-5, and in Keynes, IV, Nos. 209-12, 217.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1830)

*BrT 31

Autograph

A folio composite volume of tracts, letters and papers, 236 leaves.

Comprising tracts, letters and papers, chiefly on medical and anatomical subjects, chiefly in the hand of Dr Edward Browne, including his copies of his father's Oratio anniversaria Harveiana of 1680 (ff. 155-9), Boulimia centenaria [of 1 February 1671/2] (f. 24v) and note Upon the darke thick miste happening on the 27 of November, 1674 (ff. 143r-v-146); some autograph passages by Sir Thomas in Latin (ff. 144-5v, 149-50); and twelve letters by Sir Thomas, 1668-82, five of them in his autograph (ff. 84-5v, 87r-v, 91r-v, 133-4v, 153-4v), the other seven copies in Edward's hand (ff. 14r-v, 17, 18r-v, 19v, 21v-3v).

The passages (in English) by Sir Thomas Browne edited chiefly from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 340-52, and in Keynes, III, 188-96, 240-3. The letters edited in Wilkin, I, passim, and in Keynes, IV, Nos. 33-5, 50, 52-3, 61, 119, 132, 208, 229, 231. The Oratio edited in part from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 343-52, and in Keynes, III, 188-205; and see also BrT 22 and BrT 21, BrT 36, BrT 44.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1833)

*BrT 32

Autograph

A quarto volume of tracts, 91 leaves.

Comprising [A] autograph draft versions by Sir Thomas Browne of three of his Certain Miscellany Tracts, viz. Nos. XI (ff. 1-17), X (ff. 19-26) and VIII (ff. 27-48); and [B] the Observations on Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica written by, and in the autograph of, Sir Hamon L'Estrange of Hunstanton Hall, Norfolk, being the MS he sent to Browne in 1653 (ff. 50-91).

The Certain Miscellany Tracts [A] Nos VIII and XI edited largely from this MS in Endicott, pp. 425-7, all three tracts collated in part in Keynes, III, 70-83, 88-102; Tract No. VIII also discussed briefly by N.J. Endicott in TLS (24 August 1962), p. 645, and in UTQ, 36 (1966-7), 68-86 (p. 85). The Observations by L'Estrange [B] unpublished but recorded in Wilkin, II, 173-5, and in Keynes, IV, 284 (where they are erroneously cited as MS Sloane 1830); brief extracts from ff. 50v-1 in Robbins, II, 731.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1839)

*BrT 33

Autograph

Autograph draft version of the first of Sir Thomas Browne's Certain Miscellany Tracts [viz. Observations upon several plants mention'd in Scripture], incomplete, and with a brief additional passage, 72 quarto leaves.

This MS collated in part in Wilkin, IV, 121-73, and in Keynes, III, 1-48, 120.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1841)

*BrT 34

Autograph

A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 53 leaves.

Including miscellaneous observations on medicine, anatomy, natural history, physics and other subjects, quotations from the classics and other writers and some verses in English and Latin, one passage (f. 13) being an early draft version of a brief passage in Christian Morals, Part I, section 5.

Selections from this MS edited in Wilkin, IV, 376-80, and in Keynes, III, 272-82. The variant passage for Christian Morals edited in Martin, p. 272. Facsimile example of f. 32v (a passage on brandy drinking) in Petti, English Literary Hands, Nol. 64.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1843)

*BrT 35

Autograph

A quarto composite volume of Sir Thomas Browne's papers, 256 leaves.

Chiefly comprising 115 autograph letters by him, 1652-82, the majority to his son Edward, together with one letter addressed to Sir Thomas (f. 57); also including autograph notes by Sir Thomas relating to the European travels of Dr Edward Browne (ff. 65-6v), on plants (f. 105) and on Plutarch (f. 149), an autograph passage possibly relating to The Garden of Cyrus (f. 48v) and three others relating to Christian Morals (ff. 196, 227-8).

The letters edited in Wilkin, I (selectively, passim), and in Keynes, IV, Nos. 16, 19, 21, 24-8, 30-1, 36-8, 40-5, 47, 51, 54, 56-60, 62-8, 71-7, 80-3, 85-98, 100-4, 106-17, 120-1, 123-30, 133-4, 139-40, 142, 145-50, 152-62, 165-6, 214, 218, 225-6, 230, 232. The notes on plants and Plutarch edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 379 and 262. The passage possibly relating to The Garden of Cyrus edited from this MS in Keynes, I, 227; noted in Martin, p. 270 (where its relation to that work is questioned). The passages relating to Christian Morals edited selectively from this MS in Keynes, I, 291-2, 295, and in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim). Facsimile of f. 27 [= Keynes, IV, No. 156] in Garnett and Gosse (1903), III, facing p. 52.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1847)

*BrT 36

Autograph

A quarto composite volume of writings entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand (except for ff. 173-4), 279 leaves.

Comprising miscellaneous drafts and notes, observations and memoranda on anatomy, medicine, natural history and other subjects, including: rough draft notes for his Oratio anniversaria Harveiana (ff. 40-142v), passages on spectacles (f. 148), tutelary angels (f. 174), criticisms of passages in scripture (ff. 175-93), Camaldulenses (f. 196), St Veit (f. 196), St Paul's Cross (f. 210), Plutarch (f. 211) and passages relating to the European travels of his son Dr Edward Browne (ff. 256-66v), with draft letters to Dr Christopher Merrett on natural history (ff. 219-55v) and to his sons Thomas and Edward (ff. 3-10v, 267-9) and two original letters sent to Sir Thomas by members of his family (ff. 173-4); ff. 272v-3v containing notes (on Heydon's Chapel, etc.) relating to Repertorium; ff. 278-9v comprising a draft portion of Certain Miscellany Tracts No. IX, and several passages relating to Christian Morals occurring in ff. 146v, 149v-50, 157, 161-2, 165v, 167v, 195.

Various of these notes edited selectively from this MS in Keynes, III, 244-5, 261, 265-71, 282, 333-43, 349-54, 361-73, 375-7, 410-15, 426-31. Passages relating to Christian Morals edited in part in Keynes, I, 172 (questionably cited as an addition to Hydriotaphia), 291, 295, and in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim). Two letters by Sir Thomas to his sons edited in Keynes, IV, Nos. 14 and 46. For the Oratio, see BrT 22 and also BrT 21, BrT 31, BrT 44.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1848)

*BrT 37

Autograph

A folio composite volume of MSS, 94 leaves.

Fols 1r-32v comprising miscellaneous writings entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, including his observations on the ear (ff. 1-5), on the ostrich (ff. 6-7), on various European towns and places [relating to Dr Edward Browne's travels] (ff. 8-9, 13, 19, 22-5), on the birth of our Saviour (ff. 17-18v) and on the birds in Norfolk (ff. 20-21v, 27-30v), f. 12 being a single leaf separated from the draft Certain Miscellany Tracts No. XII (see BrT 24, ff. 33-94 comprising tracts in other hands on the muscles, geometry and a translation from Plutarch, the last (ff. 55-94) in the hand of Dr Edward Browne).

The passages on the ear recorded in Keynes, III, 335. The leaf from the Miscellany Tract edited in part in Endicott, pp. 448-52.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1849)

*BrT 38

Autograph

A quarto MS volume, 84 leaves.

Comprising: [A] a copy, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's autograph, of part of his son Dr Edward Browne's account of his travels in Europe in 1668-9 (ff. 2-54), with additions in Edward Browne's hand on ff. 35v and 44v; [B] a Latin treatise on medicine in the hand of Edward Browne (ff. 55-70); [C] a Latin comedy, Fraus pia, in an unidentified hand (ff. 71-84).

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1855)

*BrT 39

Autograph

A quarto autograph Latin notebook, 91 leaves.

Comprising sententiae ethieca and extracts from Aristotle and other authors, written throughout in a relatively neat version of Sir Thomas Browne's hand, f. 91 being a leaf inserted later.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1860)

*BrT 40

Autograph

A quarto notebook chiefly in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 90 leaves (plus blanks).

Including [A] his autograph copies of 32 letters from his son, Dr Edward Browne, 1668-9 (ff. 22-88); [B] a copy in a scribal hand of a letter to Browne by M. Escaliot, 24 juanuary 1663/4, with Browne's autograph subscription (ff. 5-21); [C] an autograph list of seeds sown in Sir Thomas's garden, 1667 (ff. 1-4); a few additional notes on ff. 4 and 90 in Dr Edward Browne's hand.

Escaliot's letter [B] printed in Wilkin, I, 424-42. Facsimile example of f. 36 (erroneously described as an example of Dr Edward Browne's hand) in The Sloane Herbarium, ed. J.E. Dandy (London, 1958), No. 25.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1861)

*BrT 41

Autograph

Including drafts of A Letter to a Friend (ff. 8-25) and Brampton Urns (ff. 26-37); ff. 2-7v, 38-94 comprising miscellaneous notes and observations by Browne including draft passages relating to Hydriotaphia (on ff. 3, 48v, 78v, 79v, 80v-81v) and to Christian Morals (on ff. 7r-v, 38-9, 42, 46, 52, 67-8, 72v-5).

A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 94 leaves.

c.1668

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1862 The MS as a whole)

*BrT 42

Autograph

A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 73 leaves (plus blanks).

Including Browne's account of a thunderstorm at Norwich, 28 June 1665 (ff. 2-3v) and his notes and draft passages on Norwich steeple (f. 1), plants (ff. 2-4, 30), figures on nature (ff. 4-6v), opinions of the ancients (ff. 7-8), motion of bodies and ebullition (ff. 9-17), coagulation, congelation and other physical properties (ff. 19-29v) and extracts from Catullus, Horace, Juvenal and Plutarch (ff. 70v-31 (rev)) some of the passages on ff. 4-6 relating to The Garden of Cyrus.

Various of these notes edited selectively from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 353-4 (account of a thunderstorm) and 454-6 (some of classical passages), and in Keynes, III, 239-40, 246-8, 268, 396-400, 434-7, 457-62. The passages relating to The Garden of Cyrus recorded in Martin, p. 270, and see also Jeremiah S. Finch, Early Drafts of The Garden of Cyrus, PMLA, 55 (1940), 742-7 (p. 742).

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1866)

*BrT 43

Autograph

Including verses, a passage on angels (f. 17r), notes on medicines (f. 45) and miscellaneous memoranda and commonplaces on a variety of other topics (passim); some notes and passages on ff. 12v, 16r, 25r-6r relating to A Letter to a Friend, others on ff. 13r, 15v, 20v-1r, 23r, 26r relating to Christian Morals; passages on ff. 18r and 31v relating to Pseudodoxia Epidemica; ff. 60r-1r containing a draft of part of Brampton Urns.

Extracts from this MS edited in Wilkin, IV, 381-425, and in Keynes, III, 234-6, 244, 269, 274, 283-330. The passages relating to A Letter to a Friend and to Christian Morals collated in part in Martin, pp. 270-1 and 271-88 (passim). The passages relating to Pseudodoxia Epidemica edited in Robbins, II, 670 and 1015. For Brampton Urns, see BrT 4.

A notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, with a few inserted leaves, 118 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt.

c.1668

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1869 The MS as a whole)

*BrT 44

Autograph

Autograph draft, untitled of Sir Thomas Browne's Oratio Anniversaria Harveiana, 19 quarto leaves.

Edited in part from this MS (with an English translation) in Keynes, III, 188-205. See BrT 22 and also BrT 21, BrT 31, BrT 36.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1871A)

*BrT 45

Autograph

A duodecimo notebook, 15 leaves.

Containing extracts from various authors in Latin, Greek and Italian, in an unidentified hand (ff. 1-10), and memoranda of private expenses in 1661 in the hand of Sir Thomas Browne (ff. 13-15).

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1871B)

*BrT 46

Autograph

A quarto composite volume, including autograph writings by Sir Thomas Browne, 112 leaves.

[A] ff. 1-38 comprising three tracts by Thomas Golding (ff. 1-18v), Thomas, Lord Coventry (ff. 19-21v) and another (Brevis animalium: ff. 22-38), in three different scribal hands; [B] ff. 39-91, comprising an autograph commonplace book of miscellaneous notes and drafts by Browne, including passages in Latin on sea fights (ff. 43-50), on dice (De Talo aut Astragalo: ff. 54-7), on reading Athenaeus, Platin and Apicius on cookery (ff. 58-64), on a reading of Athenaeus (ff. 65-75), an epistle to a friend intending a difficult work (Amico opus ardu meditanti: ff. 76-81) and notes on Aristotle (ff. 82-3); [C] ff. 93-112 comprising an autograph draft of Certain Miscellany Tracts No. XIII [Musaeum Clausum].

The miscellaneous passages [B] edited (sometimes in part) from this MS in Keynes, III, 150-2, 155-8, 162-70, 175-8, 205; the notes on Aristotle also in Wilkin, IV, 360-6. The Miscellany Tract [C] collated in part in Keynes, III, 109-19.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1874)

*BrT 47

Autograph

A quarto notebook entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 102 leaves.

Containing miscellaneous drafts and observations, including notes on coagulation and other physical properties (ff. 1-4, 10-17, 20-40, 94), on natural history (ff. 2-3, 19-20, 48-6, 64-5, 82, 87-93, 95-7, 98, 100, 102), on plants (ff. 4, 44-5, 57-8, 60, 62, 66-9, 70-81, 82v-6), on the motion of bodies and ebullition (ff. 6-9), on bubbles (ff. 41-4) and on scripture criticism (ff. 46-7v); a passage on f. 100 relating to The Garden of Cyrus.

Extensive extracts from this MS edited in Wilkin, IV, 425-53, and in Keynes, III, 258-61, 352, 358-73, 379, 382-96, 432-4, 438-62. The passage relating to The Garden of Cyrus edited from this MS in Jeremiah S. Finch, Early Drafts of The Garden of Cyrus, PMLA, 55.i (1940), 742-7 (pp. 742-3). See also BrT 52.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1875)

*BrT 48

Autograph

A quarto notebook. entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 97 leaves.

Comprising a series of miscellaneous Observations upon several subjects (ff. 1-57, 97), including draft passages on dreams (ff. 2-10), on the search for truth (ff. 44-6), pleasure (ff. 11-13), the line of our lives (ff. 17v-20), dying (ff. 21-3), aggregation and coacervation (ff. 25-6), intention, imitation and coincidence (ff. 26-8) and guardian angels (ff. 56-7), and passages relating to Christian Morals (ff. 42-7), together with a series of passages relating to the European travels of his son Dr Edward Browne (ff. 59-96).

The passages on dreams edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 230-3, and in Endicott, pp. 455-9; this and other passages possibly edited in part from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 355-9, 381-425 (where Sloane MS 1874 is questionably cited as a source). The passages relating to Christian Morals discussed and edited in part in Arno Löffler, Sir Thomas Browne at Work: An Unpublished Early Section of Christian Morals, N&Q, 218 (October 1973), 391-2. Other passages edited in Endicott, pp. 460-71, and the MS briefly discussed by Endicott (as one of the most interesting of the Browne MSS) in UTQ, 36 (1966-7), 68-86, 89-91.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1879)

*BrT 49

Autograph

A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 27 leaves.

Including his observations on plants (ff. 2-9, 12,-14), medals (ff. 15-18v), fossil remains in Norfolk (ff. 19-20), insects (ff. 23-6) and ashes (f. 27); a few passages on ff. 1r-v, 4v-5 relating to The Garden of Cyrus.

Various of these observations edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 454, and in Keynes, III, 246, 256-8, 350-1, 356-7, 374-5, 377-82. The passages relating to The Garden of Cyrus discussed and edited in part in Jeremiah S. Finch, Early Drafts of The Garden of Cyrus, PMLA, 55.i (1940), 742-7 (with facsimiles of ff. 1 and 4v), and in Martin, pp. 269-70.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1882)

*BrT 50

Autograph

Including a draft of Repertorium (ff. 1-4v, 33-41v), a series of draft passages relating to Christian Morals (ff. 5-21, 24-5, 29-32), and notes relating to his son Edward's travels in Germany (ff. 42r-v, 44v), a drawing and notes on f. 43 in another hand.

The passages relating to Christian Morals collated in part in Keynes, I, 291-2, and in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim), and ff. 45r-7r edited and discussed in Arno Löffler, Sir Thomas Browne at Work: An Unpublished early Section of Christian Morals, N&Q, 218 (October 1973), 391-2. For Repertorium, see BrT 15.

A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 44 leaves.

c.1680

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1885 The MS as a whole)

*BrT 51

Autograph

Comprising: 37 original letters from Edward to his father, the majority written on his European travels in 1668-9 (ff. 3-75v); a letter from Edward in another hand with subscribed autograph letters from Sir Thomas and his wife to their son Thomas, 1664 (ff. 1-2v); a series of original letters written to Sir Thomas and to Dr Edward Browne by various correspondents, including Henry Power, Theodor Jonas, Sir William Dugdale and Henry Oldenburg (ff. 76-88v, 92-102v, 104-5v, 108-41v); autograph drafts of two letters by Sir Thomas to Dugdale (ff. 103r-v, 106-7); Sir Thomas's autograph draft account of Iceland (ff. 90-1) and his autograph remarks on Ostend and Newport (f. 132); ff. 142-212 comprising a series of queries and observations on natural philosophy, mining, aspects of Europe, anatomy and other matters, some relating to the Royal Society, largely in the hand of Dr Edwarde Browne, some pages in other hands including part of a journal of 1693 by Sir Thomas's grandson, Dr Thomas Browne (ff. 195-201v), and some miscellaneous and political papers at the end (ff. 203-12).

Various of Edward Browne's letters edited selectively from this MS in Wilkin, I (passim); those by Sir Thomas edited in Keynes, IV, Nos. 15, 197 and 213, with those from Dugdale in IV, Nos. 194, 196, 198, 201, 203. For the account of Iceland, see BrT 1.

A folio composite volume (originally three separate MSS, now bound together with continuous foliation); comprising letters and papers of Sir Thomas Browne and his son Dr Edward Browne, 111 leaves.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MSS 1911-13 The MS as a whole)

*BrT 52

Autograph

Autograph draft note by Sir Thomas Browne on insects, on a single quarto leaf, together with a brief autograph note in Latin on frogs (relating to an English passage in BrT 47, ff. 19-20 [= Keynes, III, 352]), on a tiny slip of paper.

The note on insects edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 358.

A folio composite volume of MSS, 328 leaves.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 3323 ff. 2r, 224r)

BrT 53

The volume as a whole.

A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, predominantly in one female roman hand, written from both ends, 174 pages, in contemporary calf.

Late 17th century

Cambridge University Library, Additional MSS 7000 through end (MS Add. 8460)

*BrT 54

Autograph

Collection of autograph notes and drafts, including observations on anatomy (the pericardium and diaphragma), a draft letter, and notes on Plutarch and Plato's Year, on twenty leaves.

Late 17th century

This MS largely edited in Keynes, III, 261-2, 267-8, 343-4; IV, 85-6.

McGill University, Montreal, Osler Library (MS 4416)

*BrT 55

Autograph

A large volume containing a collection of Plants gathered by Sir Thomas Brown of Norwich and Dr Edward Brown, various of the plant specimens labeled in Sir Thomas's hand, some others labeled in Edward's hand, 117 leaves.

Later owned by Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753).

Briefly described in The Sloane Herbarium, ed. J.E. Dandy (London, 1958), p. 99. The volume probably corresponds to the Collection of Plants listed as Miscellaneous Papers No. 11 in the Rawlinson Catalogue of Browne's MSS printed in Wilkin, IV, 476.

Natural History Museum (Hortus Siccus 108)

Miscellaneous

Medical prescriptions

BrT 56

Medical prescriptions by Browne in a household book.

Mid-late 17th century

Among papers of the Harbord family, Barons.

Edited in R.W. Ketton-Cremer, Sir Thomas Browne Prescribes, TLS (2 November 1951), 700, and are thence reprinted in The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, ed. Geoffrey Keynes [1st edition, 6 vols, London, 1928-31], 2nd edition, 4 vols (London, 1964), III, pp. 463-5.

Gunton Park (Harbord Household Book)

Sir Kenelm Digby's Observations on Religio Medici

Written as a letter to the Earl of Dorset, 23 December 1642. First published in London, 1643. Edited in Wilkin, II, 118-52.

BrT 57

Copy, following (on pp. 302-24) an attack on Religio Medici By an Author in Distresse.

A folio volume of Collections, historical, political, philosophical, moral and divine, in a single hand, 380 leaves.

c.1720

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, other shelfmarks (MS Rawl. B. 211 ff. 325r-32r)

BrT 58 20 March 1642/3

Autograph letter signed by Digby, to Thomas Browne, concerning Digby's Observations on Religio Medici, 20 March 1642/3.

Keynes, IV, No. 168.

A folio composite volume of letters and papers of Sir Thomas Browne, 111 leaves.

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, other shelfmarks (MS Rawl. D. 391 ff. 60r-59v)

BrT 59

Copy.

Cited (erroneously) as Digby's manuscript in Keynes, Bibliography, p. 174.

A folio volume of miscellaneous tracts and papers, 239 leaves.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 904 ff. 222r-39v)

BrT 60

Copy, 30 leaves.

Copy, on 30 quarto leaves.

Mid-17th century

Among the manuscripts of the Coke family, Earls of Leicester.

Recorded in HMC, 9th Report (1883), Appendix, p. 371.

The Earl of Leicester, Holkham Hall (MS 688)

Documents

Will

*BrT 61

Autograph

Browne's autograph and signed last will and testament, dated 2 December 1679.

1679

An unfolding lithograph facsimile appears in Wilkin, II, after p. viii, whence the text is edited in Keynes, IV, 403.

Norfolk Record Office (N.C.C. Original Wills 1682, No. 38)

Editorial Papers

BrT 62

Papers relating to Sir Thomas Browne and his works.

c.1902-22

McGill University, Montreal, Osler Library (MSS 4534-5)

BrT 63

A collection of modern papers and printed materials relating to Sir Thomas Browne.

Wellcome Library, London (WTI/SGB/A.25/5)

BrT 64

Collection of John Carter (1905-75), bibliographer and bookseller, relating to Sir Thomas Browne, including various proof and working exempla of the 1929 edition by W. A. Greenhill and his own 1932 and 1958 editions of Hydriotaphia and The Garden of Cyrus.

c.1929-58

Sotheby's, 24 March 1976 (Carter sale), lots 18-20, variously to G.F. Sims and to Sanders of Oxford.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Browne/Carter collection])

Extracts from Works by Sir Thomas Browne

Extracts

BrT 65

Extracts from Religio Medici and Pseudodoxia Epidemica.

A quarto miscellany of Collections out of severall Authors, predominantly in a single hand, 94 leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt.

by D^r. Stanley added in black ink.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 892 f. 45r et seq.)

BrT 66

An extract from D^r Thomas Browne.

A quarto miscellany of extracts in verse and prose, in a single largely italic hand, 142 pages, in contemporary mottled calf gilt.

Compiled by Sir John Cotton, Bt (1621-1702).

Mid-17th century

The Folger Shakespeare Library, V.a.series, 300 through end (MS V.a.344 p. 88)

BrT 67

Extracts.

A small quarto commonplace book of extracts, compiled by probably two members of the Fane family, Earls of Westmorland, of Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, 120 leaves.

Mid-17th century

Later owned by Professor A. Stanton Whitfield. Christie's, 8 October 1975, lot 271.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Fane MS] [unspecified page numbers])

Sir Thomas Browne

Introduction

Browne's Papers and their Dispersal

Browne's Library

The Catalogue of Browne's Manuscripts and his Editor Simon Wilkin

Remains and Collectanea

Browne's Principal Works

Printed Exempla of Browne's Works with his Autograph Corrections

Letters

Documents

Verse

Miscellaneous

Abbreviations

Verse

Prose

Works Published no later than 1716

Remains and Collectanea

Miscellaneous

Documents

Extracts from Works by Sir Thomas Browne

Contents