Description
Book SynopsisRichard ‘Dutch’ Thomson (d. 1613), best known today as a Bible translator and one of the earliest English Arminians, was admired in his own day for his learning. This book provides the first biography of Thomson. It maps his connections with his contemporaries, reconstructs his reading, and edits his surviving correspondence, some seventy-eight letters. Thomson moved among the greatest scholars of his day, and was good friends with Joseph Scaliger and Isaac Casaubon. He travelled in Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries, became a member of five universities, and worked with manuscripts in the libraries in England, Florence, Geneva, Heidelberg and Leiden. Modern scholarship, working within national boundaries, has tended to see only a part of the whole picture.
Trade Review“Botley’s heroic effort to trace Thomson has produced a valuable resource for research on many topics, for this multilingual, well-educated, English-Dutch son of a Protestant merchant was committed to advancing classical learning in an international circle of acquaintances and friends that included some of the best scholars of his day.” Judith Rice Henderson, University of Saskatchewan. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 4 (Winter 2017), pp. 1483-1485.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface Abbreviations PART 1 Thomson’s Life 1 Early Life 2 Cambridge, 1583–1587 3 Germany, 1587 4 Leiden, 1588–1591? 5 England, 1591–May 1592 6 Germany, May 1592–April 1593 7 Geneva, April–August 1593 8 Frankfurt, September 1593 9 Leiden, December 1593–May 1594 10 Stade, May 1594 11 England, June 1594–August? 1596 12 Geneva, October? 1596–April 1597 13 Italy, April 1597–April 1599 14 Paris, July 1599 15 Augsburg, Autumn 1599? 16 England, from December 1599 17 Reading Casaubon on Athenaeus 18 Richard Mountague 19 Visitors to Cambridge 20 The Lexicon of Photius 21 Johannes de Laet, 1603–1606 22 Petrus Scriverius’ Lost Edition of Martial, 1602–1605 23 Thomson’s Hebrew 24 Bringing Casaubon to England, 1607–1610 25 Thomson’s Elenchus, 1611 26 Final Years and Death 27 Thomson’s Legacy: The Diatriba, 1616 28 Thomson’s Posthumous Reputation 29 Conclusion PART 2 Thomson’s Letters The Letters Editorial Principles and Conventions The Text and Apparatus Inventory of the Correspondence List of Correspondents The Letters Appendix 1: Thomson’s Poetry Appendix 2: Thomson’s Library Index
