Robert Boyle: By Himself and His Friends:

With a Fragment of William Wotton's lost Life of Boyle

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Editor: Michael Hunter

Our image of Robert Boyle (1627–1691) owes much to a series of evaluations of him written shortly after his death by men who had known him well, such as John Evelyn, Gilbert Burnet and Sir Peter Pett. These key early appraisals of Boyle by friends and contemporaries were selectively drawn on by Thomas Birch in his 1744 Life of Boyle and they have influenced all subsequent accounts of Boyle.

Astonishingly, some of the most important of these documents – including texts by Burnet and Pett – have never been published. What is more, the use of them made by Birch was highly partial, suppressing aspects of Boyle's personality which he found distasteful.

Contents

Introduction
Robert Boyle, An Account of Philaretus During his Minority
Biographical notes dictated by Boyle to his amanuensis, Robin Bacon
The `Burnet Memorandum': notes by Bishop Burnett on an interview with Boyle in which he reflected on episodes in his life (hitherto unpublished)
Gilbert Burnet, A Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Honorable Robert Boyle (1692)
Sir Peter Pett's notes on Boyle (hitherto unpublished)
John Evelyn's letters to William Wotton
James Kirkwood's letter to William Wotton
Chapter from William Wotton's Life of Boyle (hitherto unpublished)

Reviews

‘An essential source book for all serious students of Boyle and seventeenth century science and should be available in all university libraries.’
– Ambix, Journal of the Society for History of Alchemy and Chemistry

Related titles

• The Historiography of the Chemical Revolution : Patterns of Interpretation in the History of Science
• Natural Science and the Origins of the British Empire
• The Correspondence of Robert Boyle, 1636–1691
• The Works of Robert Boyle

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