John Evelyn in the British Library

This text, first published in "The Book Collector" in 1995, comprises a short introduction and assessment of the diaries of John Evelyn, a scholar, bibliophile, gardener, author and servant of the state.

Evelyn's diary, spanning the years 1620 to 1706, offers an extensive and historically informative personal record of the period.

The Evelyn archive comprises 605 manuscripts and papers, 80 file boxes, one trunk, 15 volumes of correspondence and a quantity of unnumbered items, acquired by the British Library in 1995.