Library of Sir Thomas Browne

Browne graduated from the University of Leiden in 1633, having previously studied at the Universities of Montpellier and Padua for his medical degree.^[1] 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 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,^[2] completing the indexing of the books of Sir Thomas and his son Edward Browne's libraries, "after many years in many libraries".^[3] 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.^[3]

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.^[4]