Abstract :
The book is nominally, an anatomy, an overview, a dissection, an analysis of melancholy. But melancholy is a
broad term, a common affliction with many causes, symptoms and, possibly, cures. Because of that, Burton is
determined to consider each and every variation on the theme. It is a famous book with a well-known title, but
rarely seen. It has been essentially, out of print for some time. Now “The Anatomy of Melancholy” has been
republished in a convenient single volume by New York Review Books. Burton’s book is encyclopedic. Burton
acknowledges that he has read many books and every book ever written or published until that time. Indeed, he
appears to quote from every one of these books in “The Anatomy of Melancholy” – from the earliest Greeks to
his recent contemporaries. Arguably, the Anatomy is the last book that encompasses the entire learning of
Western culture, and the last successful effort to embrace it all into one volume. It is a book of references woven
together. There is both madness and method here – to convince a huge mass of readers to the arguments brought
forward. The book is literally and philosophically overwhelming. It ranges across nearly all subjects: medicine,
astronomy, philosophy, literature and all the arts, politics, nature. It runs from quote to quote to reference. The
book is presented as being by “Democritus Junior”. Lewellyn Powys called it “the greatest work of prose of the
greatest period of English prose-writing,” while the celebrated surgeon William Osler declared it is the greatest
of medical treatises. Samuel Johnson considered it one of his favorite books, being "the only book that ever took
him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise".
