John Aubrey 1626-1697

John AUBREY 1626-97

Biographical Note

A noted antiquary, natural philosopher, and writer, Aubrey was born on 12 March 1626 at Easton Pierse near Kington St Michael in north Wiltshire as the eldest son of Richard Aubrey (1603–1652) and his wife, Deborah (1610–1686). He was entered as a gentleman commoner at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1642, but his studies were interrupted by the civil war. In 1646 he enrolled at the Middle Temple but did not complete his legal training. Elected to the Royal Society in 1663 Aubrey became an active member, presenting various papers, and grew well acquainted with notable people of the late seventeenth century, including Sir William Petty, Robert Hooke, Thomas Hobbes, and Anthony Wood. Aubrey is well-known for his work on natural history, architectural history, and mathematical science but is now perhaps best known as author of the prominent collection of short biographies, Brief Lives (date of Publication::1691), described on his ODNB page as ‘one of the great literary works of his age’. Aubrey's life was rife with legal entanglements following his father's death in 1652 and Aubrey's subsequent inheritance of Richard Aubrey's debts and estates.

Books

Aubrey bequeathed many of his books to the Ashmolean Museum (hence now in the Bodleian), but also gave books to Gloucester Hall (there are now ca. 40 of Aubrey’s books at Worcester College, Oxford).

Sources

• Bennett, K. John Aubrey’s collections and the early modern museum, Bodleian Library Record 17 (2001), 185-212.
• Buchanan-Brown, J. The books presented to the Royal Society by John Aubrey, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 28 (1974), 167-93.
• Fox, Adam. "Aubrey, John (1626–1697), antiquary and biographer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Gunther, R. The library of John Aubrey, Bodleian Quarterly Record 6 (1931), 230-6.
• Hunter, M. John Aubrey and the realm of learning, London, 1975.
• Lee, B. N. British bookplates: a pictorial history. Newton Abbot, 1979, 4.
• Wilkinson, C. H. Worcester College Library, Oxford Bibliographical Society Proceedings & papers 1 (1927), 263-320, p.266.