Editing Brief Lives

{{Short description|Late 17th-century collection of biographies by John Aubrey}}
{{About|a collection of biographies|the play by Patrick Garland|Brief Lives (play)|the graphic novel|The Sandman: Brief Lives|the novel by Anita Brookner |Brief Lives (novel)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:John Aubrey.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.4|John Aubrey, author of ''Brief Lives'']]
'''''Brief Lives''''' is a collection of short [[Biography|biographies]] written by [[John Aubrey]] (1626–1697) in the last decades of the 17th century.

==Writing==
Aubrey initially began collecting biographical material to assist the Oxford scholar [[Anthony Wood (antiquary)|Anthony Wood]], who was working on his own collection of biographies. With time, Aubrey's biographical researches went beyond mere assistance to Wood and became a project in its own right.{{sfn|Levy|1984}}

Aubrey was careful, wherever possible, to seek out and talk with those who had been acquainted with his subjects. His sociable nature and his wide circle of friends helped him in this pursuit. At his death, Aubrey left his biographical writings in a state of chaos. It has been the task of later editors to organise the [[manuscript]]s (held at the [[Bodleian Library]]) into readable form.

==Afterlife==
Aubrey's ''Brief Lives'' has been loved for generations for its colourful [[gossip]]y tone and for the glimpses it provides of the unofficial sides of its subjects. Aubrey's use of informants and his eye for the unusual provides much more vivid pictures than a biography based on documents could. He is frank but never malicious.

The ''Brief Lives'' includes biographies of such figures as [[Francis Bacon]], [[Robert Boyle]], [[Thomas Browne]], [[John Dee (mathematician)|John Dee]], [[Sir Walter Raleigh]], [[Edmund Halley]], [[Ben Jonson]], [[Thomas Hobbes]], [[John Ogilby]], [[William Petty]] and [[William Shakespeare]]. There have been many modern editions.

[[Patrick Garland]] wrote and directed a play ''[[Brief Lives (play)|Brief Lives]]'' based on Aubrey's work; featuring [[Roy Dotrice]] as Aubrey. The production has been performed worldwide since 1969.{{sfn|Walker|2008}}

In 2008, ''Aubrey's Brief Lives'' was a five-part drama serial on [[BBC Radio 4]]. Writer [[Nick Warburton]] intertwined some of Aubrey's biographical sketches with the story of the turbulent friendship between Aubrey and Wood. [[Abigail le Fleming]] produced and directed.{{sfn|Reynolds|2008}}

==Notes and references==
{{reflist|20em}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite journal
  |title = ''John Aubrey. Brief Lives'' by Richard Barber
  |last = Levy
  |first = F. J.
  |journal = [[Albion (journal)|Albion]]
  |publisher = The North American Conference on British Studies
  |issn = 0095-1390
  |volume = 16
  |issue = 1
  |year = 1984
  |pages = 47–49
  |doi = 10.2307/4048911
  |jstor = 4048911
  }}
*{{cite web
  |title = Gillian Reynolds: the week in radio
  |last = Reynolds
  |first = Gillian
  |date = 2 December 2008
  |work = [[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]
  |issn = 0307-1235
  |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3563885/Gillian-Reynolds-the-week-in-radio.html
  |access-date = 22 February 2018
}}
*{{cite web
  |title = Two old stagers find vigour in Brief Lives
  |last = Walker
  |first = Tim
  |date = 30 January 2008
  |website = [[The Spectator]]
  |url = https://www.spectator.co.uk/2008/01/two-old-stagers-find-vigour-in-brief-lives/
  |access-date = 22 January 2018
}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book
  |title = John Aubrey: Brief Lives with An Apparatus for the Lives of our English Mathematical Writers
  |last = Aubrey
  |first = John
  |author-link = John Aubrey
  |editor-last = Bennett
  |editor-first = Kate
  |year = 2015
  |publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
  |location = Oxford
  |isbn = 9780199689538
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*'''Brief Lives', chiefly of Contemporaries, set down by John Aubrey, between the Years 1669 & 1696''; edited by [[Andrew Clark (priest)|Andrew Clark]]
**[https://archive.org/details/briefliveschiefl01aubruoft Volume I A-H] at the [[Internet Archive]] (note: this edition is not complete)
**[https://archive.org/details/briefliveschiefl02aubruoft Volume II I-Y] at the Internet Archive
*[http://www.druidic.org/aubrey2.htm A few "Lives"] from ''Brief Lives'' at Druidic.org (Thomas Allen, Elizabeth Broughton, Thomas Harcourt, [[Mary Sidney|Mary Herbert]], [[William Shakespeare]], and [[Thomas Hobbes]])
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161214004407/http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Societies/Aubrey.html Mathematician biographies (archived)] in John Aubrey's ''Brief Lives''
* {{librivox book | title=Brief Lives | author=John AUBREY}}

[[Category:British biographies]]
[[Category:English non-fiction books]]
[[Category:1690s books]]