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Renaissance Man, Series One, Part 2 Renaissance Man, Series One, Part 2 RENAISSANCE MAN: THE RECONSTRUCTED LIBRARIES OF EUROPEAN SCHOLARS, 1450-1700 Series One: The Books and Manuscripts of John Dee, 1527-1608 Part 2: John Dee's Manuscripts from Corpus Christi College, Oxford Contents listing EDITORIAL PREFACE PUBLISHER'S NOTE CONTENTS OF REELS DETAILED LISTING Renaissance Man, Series One, Part 2 Editorial Preface by Dr Julian Roberts Research on John Dee (1527-1609) is gradually showing him to be one of the most interesting and complex figures of the late English renaissance. Although he was long regarded – for example in the Dictionary of National Biography – as alternately a charlatan and a dupe, he was revealed by E G R Taylor in 1930 as the teacher of the most important Elizabethan navigators. Research since then has underlined his role in the teaching of mathematics and astronomy, in astrology, alchemy, British antiquities, hermeticism, cabala and occultism, and, posthumously, in the Rosicrucian “movement” that swept Europe in the second and third decades of the seventeenth century. Dee thus stood, in the middle of the sixteenth century, at the watershed between magic and science, looking back at one and forward to the other. Central to all these interests was a great library, the largest that had ever been built up by one man in England. Dee’s omnivorous reading (demonstrated by his characteristic annotation) and the availability of his library to others fed many of the intellectual streams of Elizabethan England, and he was well known to Continental scholars, even before his ultimately disastrous visit to eastern Europe in 1583-89. He was also an outstanding figure in the history of scholarship in Britain, as he was, with John Bale, the first to realise the damage that had been done by the destruction of the monastic libraries, and his interest in scientific manuscripts ensures the preservation of much of England’s remarkable achievement in medieval science. The recent publication of Dee’s catalogue – it proved legible enough to be produced in facsimile – demonstrated the resources he shared with his contemporaries. It explains the early collecting of the young Cambridge scholar, the proposal for a national library which he made to Queen Mary and showed for the first time that with the probable support of Bishop Bonner, he made some progress in performing what he had proposed, by borrowing manuscripts and copying them, or by commissioning copies abroad. The identification and location of the majority of the manuscripts he owned (over 300 in total) has shed new light on the years following the dispersal of the monastic collections, and represents a considerable advance on those known to M R James in 1921. The building of so large a library of scholarly works entailed the import of books into a country like England where learned publishing was underdeveloped. Many of Dee’s books were gifts, but for others such as his vast Paracelsian library, he was (literally) indebted to the Birckmanns of Cologne and their agent the Andreas Fremonsheim. Fremonsheim was probably responsible for the meticulously accurate catalogue of Dee’s Library made in 1583. It is generally known that Dee’s Library suffered damage after his departure for Poland in 1583, though the extent and causes of the damage have provoked much inaccurate speculation. The names of those responsible are now known and, by a curious irony, the books stolen by one of the culprits now form the largest surviving part of Dee’s printed library. More than 300 printed books, many bearing heavy annotation, have now been found. Renaissance Man builds on the work started with the publication of Dee’s Library Catalogue by making available microform copies of the manuscripts and books that have been identified as having been a part of John Dee’s Library. The project commences with coverage of the manuscript volumes now held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (in Part 1) and Corpus Christi College, Oxford (in Part 2). Later sections will cover the manuscripts and printed books now held by the Royal College of Physicians, Cambridge University Library, the British Library and smaller collections from over a dozen further libraries throughout the world. The project will conclude with representative samples of important works known to have been in Dee’s Library but for which the authentic copies have not yet been found. Renaissance Man will thus be an important resource not just for Dee scholars, but for Renaissance scholars in general. Dr Julian Roberts October 1992 Consultant Editor Paul Hamlyn Keeper of Printed Books the Bodleian Library, Oxford and co-editor with Andrew G Watson of John Dee’s Library Catalogue (London Bibliographical Society, 1990) <back Renaissance Man, Series One, Part 2 Publisher's Note “Renaissance Man” seeks to make available the actual volumes – printed and manuscript – that made up the libraries of some of the great European scholars in the period 1450-1700. It does so without duplicating the work already done in the filming of English printed books listed by Wing and Pollard and Redgrave. This project focuses on: Copiously annotated volumes which tell us much about the reading habits of scholars of this period Books printed on the Continent of Europe which necessarily do not feature in STC; Unique manuscript volumes owned or written by the collectors. The project begins with the reconstructed library of John Dee (1527-1608), whose wide range of interests and great learning amply qualify him as a Renaissance Man. The reconstruction is based on Roberts & Watson’s John Dee’s Library Catalogue published by the Bibliographical Society, London, in 1990. John Dee is remembered as a mathematician, pioneer of navigation, alchemist, adviser to Elizabeth I, leading advocate of experimental science, magician, and as one of the most learned men of his day, possessing a most magnificent library. He moved in esteemed circles and was variously sponsored and consulted by the Dudleys, the Sidneys, Sir Edmund Dyer, Walsingham, the Earls of Bedford, Derby, Leicester and Pembroke, Sir Christopher Hatton, Sir William Pickering, Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth I, Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II, M. de Monluc, Ortelius, and Prince Laski. His preface to the first English edition of Euclid’s Elements in 1570 had an immense influence on the growth of the study of mathematics and on the use of mathematics in areas as diverse as land measurement and stagecraft. Mathematics were also central to his advocacy of a positivistic scientific method, gaining knowledge through the accurate measurement and recording of repeatable experiments. Dee’s manuscripts show that he was heavily influenced in this by the teachings of Roger Bacon, but Dee was able to reach a broader audience due to the power of the printed word. His mathematical fame also rests on his reform of the English Calendar, and the fact that he was trusted with this task is testimony to the high regard that his contemporaries had for him. In his Preface to the Elements of Euclid, Dee also championed the use of vernacular language to explain scientific theories which was instrumental in allowing learning to spread beyond the universities. His importance in the fields of Geography, Hydrography and Navigation is best illustrated by the fact that he numbered amongst his friends and teachers Pedro Nuñez (the Portuguese Cosmographer Royal who was appointed Dee’s literary executor), Gemma Phrysius (the Flemish mathematician, cosmographer, and cartographer who taught Dee at the University of Louvain), Gerard Mercator (a fellow pupil of Phrysius), Abraham Ortelius, Oronce Finé and Christopher Saxton (who visited Dee at Manchester College). Furthermore, during his long period of service for the Muscovy Company, Dee was himself responsible for the technical instruction of Richard Chancellor, Martin Frobisher, John Davis, Stephen and William Borough, Arthur Pet, Walter Raleigh, and probably, but not certainly, Francis Drake. Dee was involved in the opening of mining ventures in England and in the planning of early settlements in Virginia. Dee’s work in the fields of Alchemy, Astrology, and Magic brought him both prestige and notoriety. Elizabeth I made frequent demands on his services and Dee’s skills were called upon, at Robert Dudley’s suggestion, to name the most favourable day for her coronation. The Queen visited his library following his return from travels to Padua, Venice, Urbino, Pressburg and Antwerp (including a meeting with Conrad Gesner) and gave help to enable him to replace volumes which had been stolen whilst he was away. As Dee’s books and manuscripts show, he became a fervent advocate of Paracelsus and was largely responsible for introducing Paracelsian ideas into England. However, the distrust of magic and scepticism at his claims of talking to angels led to a degree of ridicule and disgrace during the reign of James I. John Dee was also one of the first advocates of a national library, as his Supplication to Queen Mary in 1556 witnesses. He proposed the gathering and copying (where volumes had to be returned) of books and manuscripts held by British owners and a series of purchasing expeditions to the Continent to enable British scholars to benefit from the new scholarship and learning that was a central part of the European Renaissance. In the absence of any royal enthusiasm for such a project he set about creating his own library of printed works and manuscript volumes. What he created was the largest private library in Elizabethan England with
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