Editing Robert Burton (section)

===Publication of the ''Anatomy''===
{| class="wikitable floatleft"
|+ Bibliographical information for Burton's ''Anatomy''.{{sfn|Duff|1923|pp=81–82}}{{sfn|Blair|Faulkner|Kiessling|1989|p=xxxviii}}
|-
! Date
! Edition
! Binding
! Location
! {{abbr|Words|Total number of words in the edition, both marginalia and main text.}}
|-
|1621
|1st
|[[4to]]
|Oxford
|353,369
|-
|1624
|2nd
|[[folio|fo]]
|Oxford
|423,983
|-
|1628
|3rd
|[[folio|fo]]
|Oxford
|476,855
|-
|1632
|4th
|[[folio|fo]]
|Oxford
|505,592
|-
|1638
|5th
|[[folio|fo]]
|Oxford
|514,116
|-
|1651
|6th
|[[folio|fo]]
|Oxford
|516,384
|-
|1660
|7th
|[[folio|fo]]
|London
|516,384
|-
|1676
|8th
|[[folio|fo]]
|London
|516,384
|}

Whatever other activities he engaged in, composing the ''Anatomy'' was the most important pursuit and accomplishment of Burton's life.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|pp=24–25}}{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=98}} Burton, as he claims in the preface, was "as desirous to suppress my labours in this kind, as others have been to press and publish theirs", but admits that melancholy is the subject upon which he is "fatally driven", and so he was compelled to compose the work.{{sfn|Burton|1927|p=27}} Burton left no record of when he began his work on the ''Anatomy''. O'Connell speculates the project grew piecemeal, with research begun in his twenties, and the work well on its way by his thirties.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=25}} Burton explicitly states that the study of melancholy was a lifelong fascination of his, and regularly "deducted from the main channel of my studies".{{sfn|Burton|1927|p=27}} However long the work took, he had certainly concluded it by 5 December 1620, aged 43, when he signed the "Conclusion to the Reader".{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=25}}

[[File:Portrait of Democritus Junior in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, 1628, 2nd edition.jpg|thumb|Engraving of Burton, under the name Democritus Junior, in the frontispiece to his ''Anatomy of Melancholy''. This engraving is from the 1628 edition.]]

The book was printed in 1621 and, despite Burton's indication in the ''Anatomy'' of troubles finding a publisher, it quickly sold well.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|pp=99–100}} Wood wrote that the publisher, Henry Cripps, made such a "great profit" off the book that he "got an estate by it".{{sfn|Wood|1815}}{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=25}} Burton's subject was well chosen; similar treatises by [[Timothie Bright]] and [[Thomas Wright (writer)|Thomas Wright]] had gone through several editions soon after their publication.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=100}} Though Burton never divulged the extent of his profits, the size of his estate and library at death suggests they were considerable.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|pp=100–101}} Burton printed the Anatomy under the pseudonym of "Democritus Junior", alluding to the Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, [[Democritus]], sometimes known as [[List of nicknames of philosophers|the Laughing Philosopher]]. The use of an established classical figure in a pseudonym was common practice in Burton's time, used to ensure the reader held no negative preconceptions about the author.{{sfn|Dewey|1970|p=3–4}} Burton did not resolutely stick to this pseudonymity; the first edition betrayed it as he signed the "Conclusion to the Reader" with his real name, and though this was removed in later editions, the portrait of Burton added from the third edition onwards hardly preserved his anonymity.{{sfn|Nicol|1948|p=200}}

Burton did not rest on his laurels after the first printing, continually editing and improving the work throughout his life.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=98}} The first edition of Burton's ''Anatomy'' was, with marginalia, over 350,000 words long; by his final edition this count came to over 500,000.{{sfn|Blair|Faulkner|Kiessling|1989|p=xxxviii}} The additions were largest for the second and third editions;{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=98}} the original [[quarto]] volume had to be expanded to a [[folio]] for the second edition (1624) to accommodate the expansions.{{sfn|Duff|1923|p=82}} For the third edition (1628), an allegorical frontispiece was added, engraved by Christian Le Blon, with a portrait of Burton atop his moniker "Democritus Junior".{{sfn|Mueller|1949|p=1074}}{{efn|Various minor additions were added to the frontispiece over the course of its printing, including in a [[wikt:skullcap|skull cap]] added to Burton's portrait in the fifth edition. This last addition has caused some academic consternation over its possible significance.{{sfn|Mueller|1949|p=1074}}}} After these two additions, Burton vowed: "{{lang|la|Ne quid nimis}} [do not do too much]. I will not hereafter add, alter, or retract; I have done." However, once again, Burton returned to the ''Anatomy'', producing two more editions in 1634 and 1638. Shortly before his death in 1640, Burton entrusted an annotated copy of the ''Anatomy'' to his publisher, which was published posthumously in 1651.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=1}} In total, Burton made contributions to six editions.{{sfn|Duff|1923|p=82}}{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=98}} Two more reprints of the ''Anatomy'' were made before the end of the century.{{sfn|Duff|1923|p=81}}