Robert Plot. Proposal for a research journey
Reference code
MSS/0085
Title
Robert Plot. Proposal for a research journey
Date
c. 1670
Level of description
Item
Extent and format
Paper; ff. iii + 13.
Folio.
Half leather binding, brown, with marbled boards. Bound with MSS/0094, 0095, 0104, 0105.
Folio.
Half leather binding, brown, with marbled boards. Bound with MSS/0094, 0095, 0104, 0105.
Scope and content
'Plinius Anglicus sive Angliae Historia naturalis ac Artium.. Or an Elenchus of Naturall Bodys, and manual Arts, found and practised wthin.. England and.. Wales, in order to ye compileing a Latin History of each after the manner of Pliny. An attempt.. now humble proposed' (fol. 1). A proposal by Dr Robert Plot, LL.D (1640-96), addressed to the lords, knights and gentlemen of Oxfordshire, seeking support for a journey to collect materials for a publication in eight books on natural objects (heads of chapters given) with an account of artefacts including engines, buildings and gunpowder. Autograph.
In this journey Plot also proposed to make a collection of coins, inscriptions, MSS, etc., and investigate topics proposed to him such as the variation in the magnetic compass (by request of the Hon. Robert Boyle) and the beneficial effects of using water from marl pits in making beer (by request of Dr William Jacob). Plot's main intention was to fill gaps in the work of Leland, Camden and other antiquaries. Plot described similar projects in a letter to Dr John Fell, Dean of Christ Church (Bp of Oxford, 1676), printed in T. Hearne's edition of Leland's Itineraries, II (1744), 131-9, and in a single sheet published in 1670. His Natural History of Oxford-shire was published in 1677. See further, for Plot's life and publications, A. Wood, Athen. Oxon., ed. Bliss, IV (1820), 772-9; DNB.
In this journey Plot also proposed to make a collection of coins, inscriptions, MSS, etc., and investigate topics proposed to him such as the variation in the magnetic compass (by request of the Hon. Robert Boyle) and the beneficial effects of using water from marl pits in making beer (by request of Dr William Jacob). Plot's main intention was to fill gaps in the work of Leland, Camden and other antiquaries. Plot described similar projects in a letter to Dr John Fell, Dean of Christ Church (Bp of Oxford, 1676), printed in T. Hearne's edition of Leland's Itineraries, II (1744), 131-9, and in a single sheet published in 1670. His Natural History of Oxford-shire was published in 1677. See further, for Plot's life and publications, A. Wood, Athen. Oxon., ed. Bliss, IV (1820), 772-9; DNB.
Creator
Plot, Robert (1640-1696), antiquary
Previous reference number(s)
SAL/MS/85