Sociable Knowledge: Natural History and the Nation in Early Modern Britain

359 Pages·2016·39.91 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Yale

Sociable Knowledge
MATERIALTEXTS
SeriesEditors
RogerChartier LeahPrice
JosephFarrell PeterStallybrass
AnthonyGrafton MichaelF.Suarez,S.J.
Sociable Knowledge
Natural History and the Nation
in Early Modern Britain
Elizabeth Yale
university of pennsylvania press
philadelphia
Copyright(cid:2)2016UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsusedfor
purposesofrevieworscholarlycitation,noneofthisbook
maybereproducedinanyformbyanymeanswithout
writtenpermissionfromthepublisher.
Publishedby
UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania19104-4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Yale,Elizabeth,author.
Sociableknowledge:naturalhistoryandthenationinearly
modernBritain/ElizabethYale.
pagescm.—(Materialtexts)
ISBN978-0-8122-4781-7(alk.paper)
1.Naturalhistory—GreatBritain—History—17thcentury.
2.Naturalhistorycorrespondence—GreatBritain—
History—17thcentury.3.Communicationinlearningand
scholarship—GreatBritain—History—17thcentury.
4.Naturalists—Archives.5.Topographicalsurveying—Great
Britain—History—17thcentury.6.Topographical
surveying—Politicalaspects—GreatBritain.7.Natural
history—GreatBritain—Historiography.8.Naturalhistory
literature—GreatBritain.I.Title.II.Series:Materialtexts.
QH21.G7Y352016
508.4109(cid:2)032—dc23
2015022503
Tomyparents
JaneLouiseYale
StephenElonYale
This page intentionally left blank
(cid:2)
ontents
NoteonSources ix
ListofAbbreviations xi
Introduction.‘‘AWholeandPerfectBodieandBook’’:Constructing
theHumanandNaturalHistoryofBritain 1
Chapter1.‘‘ThisBookDothNotShewYouaTelescope,
butaMirror’’:TheTopographicalBritaininPrint 21
Chapter2.PuttingTexts,Things,andPeopleinMotion:Learned
CorrespondenceinAction 55
Chapter3.NaturalHistory‘‘HardlyCanBeeDonebyLetters’’:
Conversation,Writing,andtheMakingofNaturalKnowledge 89
Chapter4.JohnAubrey’sNaturallHistorieofWiltshire:ACaseStudy
inScribalCollaboration 116
Chapter5.PublicsofLetters:Printingfor(andThrough)
Correspondence 168
Chapter6.‘‘TheManuscriptsFlewAboutlikeButterflies’’:
Self-ArchivingandthePressuresofHistory 205
Conclusion.PaperBritannias 249
viii contents
Notes 261
Bibliography 305
Index 331
Acknowledgments 343
(cid:3) (cid:4)
ote on ources
All quotations from early modern papers observe the following conventions:
Familiar abbreviations (‘‘Dr.,’’ ‘‘Mr.,’’ and so on) have been left as is, while
mostabbreviationsofnamesandwordsnotnowcommonlyabbreviatedhave
beenexpandedinbraces.Commonabbreviationssuchas‘‘wch,’’‘‘ye,’’‘‘yt,’’
however, have been silently expanded to ‘‘which,’’ ‘‘the,’’ and ‘‘that.’’ All
superscripts have been lowered. Any text crossed out by an author, where
legible, is shown with a line through it. Authorial insertions to the text are
presentedinangledbrackets.Editorialcommentsandinsertionsareenclosed
bybraces (apracticenecessitatedby Aubrey’suseofsquarebrackets).Where
dates are conjectural (as in dating of correspondence), they are enclosed by
braces. These practices largely follow the recommendations of Michael
Hunter as described in ‘‘How to Edit a Seventeenth-Century Manuscript:
PrinciplesandPractice,’’SeventeenthCentury10(1995):277–310;andEditing
Early Modern Texts: An Introduction to Principles and Practice (Basingstoke:
PalgraveMacmillan,2007),withafewmodificationstosuitthecomplexities
oftheAubreymanuscripts,particularlytheNaturallHistorieofWiltshire(Bod
MS1andBodMS2).ModificationsfordealingwiththeAubreymanuscripts
arebasedinpartonKateBennett’seditorialpracticesin‘‘MaterialsTowards
aCriticalEditionofJohnAubrey’sBriefLives’’(D.Phil.thesis,Universityof
Oxford,1993).
Dates prior to 1752, when Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar, are
giveninthe‘‘OldStyle’’(theoldJuliancalendarwaselevendays behindthe
Gregoriancalendarintheseventeenthcentury).Thebeginningofanewyear
is taken to be January 1, rather than March 25. When necessary for clarity,
datesaregivenwiththedoubledyear—forexample,February9,1691/92.