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Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Parallel Edition

Robert Burton

The Anatomy of Melancholy

1651 English with a close modern English rendering

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The Anatomy of MelancholySource Record

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English Introduction · Branch 1211 of 1495

Source Record

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Source Record

p. 1211

Scan 395; printed 287; sequence 295; image block82-source-395.png. Member5 heading and all body, including Ovid Latin and Burton English verse and final Horace verse. Nine margins q,r,asterisk Paracelsus,s,t,dagger Ter,u,x,dagger Horace. Footer Who is catchword.

Scan 396; printed 288; sequence 296; image block82-source-396.png. All body and eleven margins y,z,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i. Ovid stands at end of a note. Printed i Aristæ hist is anchored at Petronius verse, apparently displaced from next Ptolemy anecdote; retained at printed anchor and explained. Footer For is catchword.

Scan 397; printed 289; sequence 297; image block82-source-397.png. Opening For that cause paragraph through I must refer you to a more convenient place, completing Member5. Four margins k,l,m,n; l continues across the foot below this paragraph, followed by m Icon and n Sect5. Exclude Member6 heading and all subsequent body and lower margins; these begin083.

Opening words: But in all nature what is there so stupend as to examine and calculate the motion of the planets, their magnitudes, apogeums, perigeums, excentricities, how far distant from the earth;

Closing words: I must refer you to a more convenient place.

Passages DJR-083-01 to DJR-083-43

Source page labels: 289–294 (sequence 297–302). Scan pages: 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402.

Scan 397; printed 289; sequence 297; image block82-source-397.png. Begin Member6 Subsection1 heading and complete subtitle. Opening sleep paragraph and k,l,m,n margins belong to082. Include all body after heading and five lower margins o,p,q,r,asterisk Disputat; last note continues across page foot. Final sufficiently continues informed on398; footer informed is catchword.

Scan 398; printed 290; sequence 298; image block82-source-398.png. All body, including Crato continuation, and three margins s,t,u. Final thinking of continues something else on399; footer something is catchword.

Scan 399; printed 291; sequence 299; image block82-source-399.png. All body, including three-line Latin verse, Burton’s separate four-line English verse and separate Latin maxim. Six margins x,y,z,a,b,c. Final a melancholy continues man on400; footer man is catchword.

Scan 400; printed 292; sequence 300; image block83-source-400.png. All body and three margins d,e,f. Final Will pre- continues cipitated on401; footer ci- is catchword. In margin e, herili imperio read from the enlarged scan.

Scan 401; printed 293; sequence 301; image block83-source-401.png. All body, including Greek verse and Terence Latin couplet. Twelve marginal containers: g,h,dagger Camerarius26,asterisk Plutarch,dagger Isidore,asterisk Latin gloss of Greek,dagger Camerarius54,i,dagger Seneca67,asterisk Cicero,k Ovid,dagger De amicitia. Final It is the best continues thing in the world on402; footer thing is catchword.

Scan 402; printed 294; sequence 302; image block83-source-402.png. Opening Seneca and Commynes paragraphs only, through nothing so forcible to strengthen, recreate and heal the wounded soul of a miserable man. Include margins l and m and both full footer continuations. Subsection2 heading, following body and its three asterisk margins are reserved for084.

Opening words: Memb. 6. Subsect. 1. Perturbations of the minde rectified. From himself, by resisting to the utmost, confessing his grief to a friend, &c.

Closing words: nothing so forcible to strengthen, recreate and heal the wounded soul of a miserable man.

Passages DJR-084-01 to DJR-084-38

Source page labels: 294–298, with 292 misprinted for 296 (sequence 302–306). Scan pages: 402, 403, 404, 405, 406.

Scan 402; printed 294; sequence 302; image block83-source-402.png. Begin Subsection 2 heading and full subtitle. Preceding Seneca and Commynes paragraphs and l,m footer margins belong to 083. Include all following body and three asterisk margins, Ep. Q. frat., Aphor. prim., Epist. 10. Final will not be known of continues them on 403; footer them is catchword.

Scan 403; printed 295; sequence 303; image block83-source-403.png. All body and ten marginal containers n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,x,y, including the full u continuation and x,y across the page foot. Final to desire continues nothing more on 404; footer nothing is catchword. Doubled saith retained in original. The enlarged q margin reads prima-ria across the line break, normalized to primaria.

1211

About This Reading Edition

Robert Burton’s Anatomy ranges across medicine, philosophy, poetry, religion, and everyday life in its inquiry into melancholy. This complete parallel edition pairs the 1651 English text with a close modern English rendering, preserving the three Partitions, Democritus Junior’s address to the reader, verse, and the historical index.

Historical Text and Translation

The historical text follows the sixth edition, printed at Oxford for Henry Cripps in 1651, using the McGill University Library copy. The supplied edition documents missing printed pages 98–99 supplied from another 1651 copy at the Bavarian State Library. Historical folio labels and their irregularities remain visible; web reader numbers identify reflowed passages and do not claim to reproduce PDF pagination.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared the close modern English rendering and editorial matter. All 8,755 original and modern passage pairs remain aligned, with verse breaks, italics, continuations, and linked annotations preserved. Burton’s 6,781 historical notes retain their attribution; 6,895 editorial notes remain distinct. The introduction, Note on the Text, contextual lexicon, indexes, source documentation, and bibliography are included. The engraved frontispiece remains available in the original downloads.

Rights

Burton’s historical text is in the public domain. The modern English rendering, introduction, notes, and editorial matter are © 2026 Diotimos Editions and appear with the site owner’s permission. The complete supplied PDF, EPUB, Word, and Markdown files remain available unchanged. The PDF and Word edition preserve the original parallel page layout.