page_title: John Evelyn
section_title: Works
hierarchical_section_title: John Evelyn / Works
context_page_description: John Evelyn FRS was an English writer, gardener and diarist.
  John Evelyn's diary, or memoir, spanned the period of his adult life from 1640, when he was a student, to 1706, the year he died. He did not write daily at all times. The many volumes provide insight into life and events at a time before regular magazines or newspapers were published, making diaries of greater interest to modern historians than such works might have been at later periods. Evelyn's work covers art, culture and politics, including the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell's rise and eventual natural death, the last Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London in 1666.
  Evelyn's posthumously "rival" diarist, Samuel Pepys, wrote a different kind of diary, covering a much shorter period, 1660–1669, but in much greater depth, within the same era. Over the years, Evelyn's Diary has been overshadowed by Pepys's chronicles of 17th-century life.
context_section_description: Evelyn's Diary remained unpublished as a manuscript until 1818. It is in a quarto volume containing 700 pages, covering the years between 1641 and 1697, and is continued in a smaller book – which brings the narrative down to within three weeks of its author's death. Despite entries going back to 1641, Evelyn only actually started writing his diary much later, relying on almanacs and accounts of other people for many of the earlier events. A selection from this was edited by William Bray, with the permission of the Evelyn family, in 1818, under the title of Memoirs illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, comprising his Diary from 1641 to 1705/6, and a Selection of his Familiar Letters. Other editions followed, the most notable being those of H. B. Wheatley (1879) and Austin Dobson (3 vols, 1906).
  Evelyn's active mind produced many other works, and although these have been overshadowed by the famous Diary they are of considerable interest. They include:
  Of Liberty and Servitude ... (1649), a translation from the French of François de la Mothe le Vayer, Evelyn's own copy of which contains a note that he was "like to be call'd in question by the Rebells for this booke";
  The State of France, as it stood in the IXth year of ... Louis XIII (1652), a pamphlet drawn up from personal observations about the royal family, the court, the officials, the military forces, the institutions and customs of France;
  An Essay on the First Book of T. Lucretius Carus de Rerum Natura. Interpreted and made English verse by J. Evelyn (1656); to his translation, Evelyn attached a commentary based on the writings of Gassendi and other philosophical atomists ;
  The Golden Book of St John Chrysostom, concerning the Education of Children. Translated out of the Greek by J. E. (printed 1658, dated 1659);
  The French Gardener: Instructing How to Cultivate all sorts of Fruit-Trees, and Herbs for the Garden (1658), translated from the French of Nicolas de Bonnefons;
  A Character of England, As it was lately presented in a Letter to a Nobleman of France (1659), a satire describing the customs of the country as they would appear to a foreign observer, reprinted in Somers' Tracts (ed. Scott, 1812), and in the Harleian Miscellany (ed. Park, 1813);
  The Late Newes, or Message from Bruxels Unmasked, and his Majesty Vindicated ... (1660), in answer to a libellous pamphlet on Charles I by Marchamont Nedham;
  Fumifugium: or The Inconvenience of the Aer and Smoak of London Dissipated (1661), in which he suggested that sweet-smelling trees should be planted in London to purify the air;
  Instructions Concerning Erecting of a Library ... (1661), from the French of Gabriel Naudé;
  Tyrannus or the Mode, in a Discourse of Sumptuary Laws (1661);
  Sculptura: or the History, and Art of Chalcography and Engraving in Copper... (1662); this contains the first account of "A new manner of Engraving, or Mezzo Tinto, communicated by his Highnesse Prince Rupert to the Author of this Treatise". In fact many think Rupert, who had played a part in the invention or perfecting of mezzotint, wrote or co-wrote this part. The frontispiece "invented" (designed) by Evelyn demonstrates his limitations as an artist of the figure, unless he was badly let down by his engraver.
  Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions to which is annexed Pomona ... Also Kalendarium Hortense ... (1664); the best known of his books; a plea for reafforestation aimed at landowners ;
  A Parallel of the Antient Architecture with the Modern (1664), from the French of Roland Fréart, to which was added an Account of Architects and Architecture from Evelyn's own pen ;
  An Idea of the Perfection of Painting: Demonstrated From the Principles of Art, and by Examples (1668), a translation of another work by Roland Fréart;
  The History of the three late famous Imposters, viz. Padre Ottomano, Mahomed Bei, and Sabatei Sevi ...  (1669);
  Navigation and Commerce, in which his Majesties title to the Dominion of the Sea is asserted against the Novel and later Pretenders (1674), wh
caption: Title page of second edition of Sylva, dated 1670 although according to his Diary Evelyn presented the new edition in 1669.
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