The Letterbooks of John Evelyn, a collection of more than eight hundred letters selected by Evelyn himself, constitutes an essential new resource for scholars of seventeenth-century England.

Introduction: curiouser and curiouser -- 'The world do not grow old at all' -- Two worlds -- The decade of the diaries -- Prodigious revolutions -- 'Even private families are ... the best of governments' -- Private lives -- 'I do indulge myself a little the more in pleasure' -- Take nobody's word for it -- Pleasure above all things -- Hortulan affairs -- Exotic extravagances -- The affection which we have to books -- Epilogue: and so to bed -- Appendix: the true domestick intelligence

John Evelyn (1620-1706) was a pivotal figure in 17th-century intellectual life in England. The contributors approach him and his work from diverse disciplines: architectural and intellectual history and histories of science, agriculture, gardens, and literature. They present the "Elysium Britannicum" as a central document of late European humanism.

The great English writer and gardener John Evelyn (1620–1706) kept a diary all his life. Today, this diary is considered an invaluable source of information on more than fifty years of social, cultural, religious, and political life in seventeenth-century England. Evelyn’s work is often overshadowed by the literary contributions of his contemporary and friend, Samuel Pepys. This new biography changes that. John Dixon Hunt takes a fresh look at the life and work of one of England’s greatest diarists, focusing particularly on Evelyn’s “domesticity.” The book explores Evelyn’s life at home, and perhaps even more importantly, his domestication of foreign ideas and practices in England. During the English Civil Wars, Evelyn traveled extensively throughout Europe, taking in ideas on the management of estate design while abroad to apply them in England. Evelyn’s greatest accomplishment was the import of European garden art to the UK, a feat Hunt puts into context alongside a range of Evelyn’s social and ethical thinking. Illustrated with visual material from Evelyn’s time and from his own pen, the book is an ideal introduction to a hugely important figure in the shaping of early modern Britain.

"This new biography ... is the first to make full use of Evelyn's huge unpublished archive deposited at the British Library in 1995. This crucial source evokes a broader and richer picture of Evelyn, his life and his friendships, than permitted by his own celebrated diaries."--Dust jacket.

This book is about the literary culture that emerged during and in the aftermath of the Great Plague of London (1665). Textual transmission impacted upon and simultaneously was impacted by the events of the plague. This book examines the role of print and manuscript cultures on representations of the disease through micro-histories and case studies of writing from that time, interpreting the place of these media and the construction of authorship during the outbreak. The macabre history of plague in early modern England largely ended with the Great Plague of London, and the miscellany of plague writings that responded to the epidemic forms the subject of this book.

This is the twenty-first volume in the Clarendon Edition of the Works of John Locke. The series aims to provide authoritative critical editions of all the writings of one of the most important intellectuals in the early-modern Anglophone world. The present volume completes the Correspondence edited by the late E. S. de Beer, published between 1976 and 1989. It contains some 300 documents: newly discovered or augmented, or newly collected, letters by or to Locke, or between his close associates. New finds have emerged from archives worldwide; previously known letters are now improved from new manuscripts or supplemented by enclosures that had become detached from them; 'epistles dedicatory' in books by Locke or addressed to him are collected; third-party letters with direct bearing on Locke are included; as also Locke's agreements with publishers for the printing of his books. The volume covers Locke's manifold interests, from childrearing to medicine to cartography; from the exercise of patronage to the political economy of England's burgeoning empire; from the management of his Somerset tenants to relations with fellow philosopher Damaris Masham; from a trial for heresy to surveillance letters when Locke was suspect; from book collecting to calendrical reform. Locke's critics and vindicators are here, attacking and defending his published works. Considerable material has come to light bearing on Locke's encounters with Carolina and policies when a founding member of the Board of Trade and Plantations. The volume is supported by Mark Goldie's introduction and by an extensive explanatory editorial apparatus.

Examines England's Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689 through a broad geographical and chronological framework, discussing its repercussions at home and abroad and why the subsequent ideological break with the past makes it the first modern revolution.

In the times before the first newspapers and magazines saw the light of the day, chronicles, memoirs, and personal diaries were the primary source of information about the ordinary life and manners of the people. John Evelyn's Diary is an example of such work. It was created from 1640 to 1706. He covered the developments in art, culture, and politics and gave an account of his travels and occupation. In these diaries, a reader can find comments on the execution of King Charles I, the Great Fire of London, the Great Plague, and many more A contemporary reader familiar with these events from the history books will be interested in viewing them from the point of real-time witness. Together with the diaries of Samuel Pepys, Evelyn's Diaries were the primary source of information about the life of ordinary people in the 17th century.

John Evelyn (1620-1706) has long been known as one of the best-loved of English diarists. But he was much else besides: gardener, environmentalist, connoisseur, bibliophile, intellectual in government service, influential lay Anglican - in fact the quintessential virtuoso of seventeenth century England and a key figure in the assimilation of European culture there. These fifteen essays, all by leading experts in their fields, draw on The British Library's exceptionally rich holdings of Evelyn's books, manuscripts and family papers to explore for the first time the full range of his activity and influence.