John Evelyn

Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn - Vol. III is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1889. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Diary and correspondence of John Evelyn, F. R. S. - Vol. IV is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1889. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

The Stuart writer and gardener John Evelyn (1620–1706), whose two-volume Sylva is also reissued in this series, kept a diary from the age of eleven, and in the 1680s began to compile this memoir from his records. It was first published in 1818 in an edition by the antiquarian William Bray; this three-volume version of 1906 was edited by Austin Dobson (1840–1921), the author and poet who also wrote the volume on Henry Fielding in the 'English Men of Letters' series, among many other literary biographies. In an extensive preface, Dobson explains his reasons for revisiting a work which had already received much editorial attention, and his introduction gives a short biography of its author. Volume 2 covers the period 1647–76, beginning with Evelyn still in self-exile in Europe; it records his return to England, the Interregnum and Restoration, as well as the Plague and the Fire of London.

John Evelyn (1620–1706), a founder member of the Royal Society, was a horticulturalist and author, best remembered for his diaries. Throughout his prolific writings he exhibits a strong distaste for the corruption of life at court. The beautiful and pious Margaret Godolphin (1652–78), a courtier more than thirty years Evelyn's junior, with whom he struck up an intense friendship in 1672, was maid of honour in the household of Queen Catherine, wife of King Charles II. To Evelyn she represented the antithesis of the corruption he despised. Written as 'a record of her perfections' following her death in childbirth, this hagiographic biography reflects the extent of Evelyn's devotion. Left among his unrevised manuscripts, it was not published until 1847, nearly two centuries after its composition. Edited by the bishop and orator Samuel Wilberforce (1805–73), the work includes helpful notes and genealogical tables that elucidate the text.