{"product_id":"john-aubrey-my-own-life-hardcover-by-ruth-scurr","title":"John Aubrey, My Own Life Hardcover by Ruth Scurr","description":"\u003cbody\u003e\n                            \n                                \n                                    \u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n                                    \u003cul\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cb\u003eNew York Review Books\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e(2016-09-06)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguage\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003eEnglish\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e544\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003epages\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e9781681370422\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eItem Weight\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e884.52\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003egrams\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e9.3 x 6.3 x 1.7\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003ecm\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                    \u003c\/ul\u003e\n                                    \u003cbr\u003e\n                                    \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“A game-changer in the world of biography.” —Mary Beard,\u003ci\u003e The Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShortlisted for the Costa Biography Award\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn on the brink of the modern world, John Aubrey was witness to the great intellectual and political upheavals of the seventeenth century. He knew everyone of note in England—writers, philosophers, mathematicians, doctors, astrologers, lawyers, statesmen—and wrote about them all, leaving behind a great gift to posterity: a compilation of biographical information titled \u003ci\u003eBrief Lives\u003c\/i\u003e, which in a strikingly modest and radical way invented the art of biography.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAubrey was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1626. The reign of Queen Elizabeth and, earlier, the dissolution of the monasteries were not too far distant in memory during his boyhood. He lived through England’s Civil War, the execution of Charles I, the brief rule of Oliver Cromwell and his son, and the restoration of Charles II. Experiencing these constitutional crises and regime changes, Aubrey was impassioned by the preservation of traces of Ancient Britain, of English monuments, manor houses, monasteries, abbeys, and churches. He was a natural philosopher, an antiquary, a book collector, and a chronicler of the world around him and of the lives of his friends, both men and women. His method of writing was characteristic of his manner: modest, self-deprecating, witty, and concerned above all with the collection of facts that would otherwise be lost to time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohn Aubrey, My Own Life\u003c\/i\u003e is an extraordinary book about the first modern biographer, which reimagines what biography can be. This intimate diary of Aubrey’s days is composed of his own words, collected, collated, and enlarged upon by Ruth Scurr in an act of meticulous scholarship and daring imagination. Scurr’s biography honors and echoes Aubrey’s own innovations in the art of biography. Rather than subject his life to a conventional narrative, Scurr has collected the evidence—the remnants of a life from manuscripts, letters, and books—and arranged it chronologically, modernizing words and spellings, and adding explanations when necessary, with sources provided in the extensive endnotes. Here are Aubrey’s intricate drawings of Stonehenge and the ancient Avebury stones; Aubrey on Charles I’s execution (“On this day, the King was executed. It was bitter cold, so he wore two heavy shirts, lest he should shiver and seem afraid”); and Aubrey on antiquity (“Matters of antiquity are like the light after sunset—clear at first—but by and by \u003ci\u003ecrepusculum\u003c\/i\u003e—the twilight—comes—then total darkness”). From the darkness, Scurr has wrested a vibrant, intimate account of the life of an ingenious man.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                                    \u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n                                    \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRuth Scurr\u003c\/b\u003e is a historian, writer, and literary critic. Her first book,\u003ci\u003e Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e,  won the Franco-British Society Literary Prize, was long-listed for the  Samuel Johnson Prize, short-listed for the Duff Cooper Prize, and chosen  as one of the One Hundred Best Books of the Decade in \u003ci\u003eThe Times \u003c\/i\u003e(London). She reviews regularly for \u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e. She  is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and teaches history and  politics at Cambridge University where she is a Lecturer and Fellow of  Gonville and Caius College.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                                \n                            \n                            \u003c\/body\u003e","brand":"Best Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":45341087793313,"sku":"BBSNIJ9781681370422","price":42.75,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/2084\/5473\/files\/9781681370422.jpg?v=1762795989","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbookstore.ca\/products\/john-aubrey-my-own-life-hardcover-by-ruth-scurr","provider":"Best Book Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}