ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the library of Thomas Browne (1604?—1682), author of Religio Medici, as an element within networks of social and intellectual exchange: family, friends, and fellow collectors, eminent scientists, and antiquarians, including John Evelyn, Elias Ashmole, John Aubrey, and William Dugdale. These exchanges shaped the development of the collection and made their contribution to Browne’s own interpretation of its contents. Emphasis is placed on the collaborative and contingent interpretation of text, observation, and conversation in his work. Reconstructing the communities of collectors amongst whom Browne lived and worked, this chapter follows his conversations off the printed page into closets, storehouses, and gardens.
