First issued in 1621 and enlarged in later editions, this treatise by "Democritus Junior" defines melancholy as a disease of body and mind, then catalogues its causes, species, and cures. Burton draws on medicine, theology, astrology, and a huge store of classical and modern quotation. The partitions move from diet and the humours through love-melancholy to religious despair, with long digressions on geography, demons, and the author's own habits. Remedies range from diet and air to marriage, study, and faith. The work is a medical-moral encyclopedia in essay form, not a novel and not a case history of one patient.
Title Metadata
Subject/Genre
6 Subjects| No. | Volume Title | Page Count |
|---|---|---|
| Vol. 1 | The Anatomy of Melancholy, the First Partition | 548 pp |
| Vol. 2 | The Anatomy of Melancholy, the Second Partition | 325 pp |
| Vol. 3 | The Anatomy of Melancholy, the Third Partition | 586 pp |
Vol. Introductions by Holbrook Jackson and Phillip Pullman. Quarter cloth with elaborate gilt decoration and reproduction Ann Muir marbled paper covered boards. Black three-volume slipcase titled in gold.
| Printing | Print Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Printing | 2005 | — |