![](https://assets.cambridge.org/97811080/73448/cover/9781108073448.jpg)
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Online publication date:
- December 2014
- Print publication year:
- 2014
- First published in:
- 1845
- Online ISBN:
- 9781107446106
19th August 2024: digital purchasing is currently unavailable on Cambridge Core. Due to recent technical disruption affecting our publishing operation, we are experiencing some delays to publication. We are working hard to restore services as soon as possible and apologise for the inconvenience. For further updates please visit our website: https://www.cambridge.org/universitypress/about-us/news-and-blogs/cambridge-university-press-publishing-update-following-technical-disruption
The antiquarian and topographer John Britton (1771–1857) is best remembered for his multi-volume series of The Beauties of England and Wales. A self-taught author and scholar, he was attracted by the work of John Aubrey (1626–97), who was born in the same Wiltshire village as him, and had very similar interests as an antiquarian and biographer, famous for his Brief Lives and for his surveys of and writings on Avebury and Stonehenge. Britton's research on Aubrey's life induced him to write a fresh account, using surviving manuscripts as well as printed sources, which would clear up the contradictions and errors of earlier versions. This 1845 book is a fascinating portrait of a sickly child who ended up a pauper because of family debts and lawsuits, but was a diligent and intelligent scholar, scientist and occultist, and a close friend of Thomas Hobbes and Robert Hooke.
* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.
Usage data cannot currently be displayed.