Image: Title page of ‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’, second edition printed in 1624
This year sees the 400th anniversary of the publication of a literary masterpiece – and ‘the wonderful book’ – as it was described by a journalist in 1902 – has a strong connection with Sutton Coldfield. The Anatomy of Melancholy was first published in 1621 and ran to 350,000 words; by its fifth edition in 1651 it had reached over 500,000 words. Thereafter the book was regularly reprinted. For Samuel Johnson it was ‘the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.’ Lord Byron said that a patient reader would learn more about literature from the book than he or she would from perusing twenty other books he could recommend. For Victorian newspaper editors it was ‘the most monumental piece of book-making in the language … (and) still read with delight by students of literature.’
So what is connection with Sutton Coldfield? The author was Robert Burton (1577-1640) who, though born in Leicestershire, was educated at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School. The master of the school whilst Burton was in attendance was William Saunders. Under his tutelage, Burton began to develop the skills in the study of Latin and Greek in which he became so proficient. At the age of seventeen, Burton left the grammar school to study at Oxford. He obtained his degree in 1602 and, though he obtained appointments as a parson in Lincolnshire and then Leicestershire, he chose to remain at the university for the rest of his life. Burton’s natural home was the library – that at Christ Church, where he was librarian, and also the Bodleian Library. He also built up a considerable private library.
The Anatomy of Melancholy was Burton’s only significant publication. It is such a monumental book that this is hardly surprising – with its ongoing additions and revisions, Burton had neither the time nor the energy to produce anything other than two plays. The work is divided into three parts. It examines the different types of melancholy; cures for the condition; and the condition as manifested in love and religious feeling. It is a work of astonishing scholarship, incorporating a huge number of often-unattributed classical and literary quotations. It became the desire of Victorian editors to identify as many of these as possible: The Revd. A.R. Shillet and A.W. Ward with A.R. Waller sought to trace the origins of many of the obscure quotations in editions they brought out in the 1890s.
I would need to break my leg to find the time to read Burton’s book from beginning to end, but I have been dipping into it. It contains many fascinating – and, in relation to diet and exercise, quite modern – observations. It seems that Burton himself was affected by feelings of melancholy. He writes with understanding about the condition and offers as the best treatments reading, country walks, friendship and keeping busy. ‘I write of melancholy by being busy to avoid melancholy’, he observes.
Robert Burton was described by a contemporary as being a man who was ‘the pleasantest, the most learned and the most full of sterling sense.’ The early nineteenth century essayist Charles Lamb called him ‘that fantastic great old man.’ This product of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School certainly made his mark in the field of literary and intellectual endeavour. Though his book is not widely-known, it is certainly far from forgotten. To mark the 400th anniversary of its publication, Penguin have just released a new edition.
Addendum: If you don’t think you can manage the 1,376 pages of the new edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy just released by Penguin, the editor Angus Cowland contributes an interesting essay about the book to Literary Review, July 2021, p. 64.
Stephen Roberts, July 2021
Stephen Roberts is Honorary Archivist at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School