A site dedicated to the life and work of Sir Thomas Browne who
was born 19 October 1605 in London and died 19 October 1682 in Norwich
Sir Thomas Browne DayIn 1682, Thomas Browne died on his birthday, 19 October. We are working to establish 19th October as an annual Sir Thomas Browne Day in Norwich, and further across the country. The idea is to organise events to mark the day and to stimulate interest in Browne, increase people's knowledge about Browne and his commitment to curiosity and investigation, learning and thought.
In 2018 Sir Thomas Browne day fell within the Norwich Science Festival which is an appropriate time to celebrate and establish a day dedicated to him. A number of places in Norwich have references or artefacts connected with Browne. With the aid of some funding from The Norwich Freemen's Trust (formerly Town Close Trust) we will be developing some learning resources for both adults and children. Please get in touch if you want to get know more about the Thomas Browne Society. Supported by the
Sir Thomas Browne Facebook page
A Thomas Browne Society?
A new Thomas Browne Society is proposed, bringing together enthusiasts and experts from around the globe. If you are interested in the development of a Society please sign up here
Help the Thomas Browne ProjectIf you would like to make a donation to the Thomas Browne Project to support the development and maintenance of this site and evens, please donate by using the button above
Articles
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NewsHappy New Year to all Browne followers.
We are in the process of starting to plan Sir Thomas Browne Day for 2020 so please get in touch if you have ideas for events and happenings, either in Norwich or anywhere else in the world. "But why fly in the face of facts? Few people love the writings of Sir Thomas Browne, but those who do are of the salt of the Earth." Virginia Woolf Recently at Norwich Castle A talk by Professor Claire Preston, Queen Mary University (London) Thomas Browne’s Retreat to Earth Friday 22 November 2019, 2.30-3.30pm Admission free with museum entry This talk is related to an exhibition celebrating the work of the author W G Sebald on the 75th anniversary of his birth. This unprecedented exhibition brings together a diverse selection of celebrated artworks, curious objects, archive material and the author’s own, unseen photographs to tell the story behind the creation of one of East Anglia’s most famous literary masterpieces, The Rings of Saturn (1995). From the mystery of Sir Thomas Browne’s skull to the secret landscapes of the Cold War, from the ghostly vessels of the vanished herring fleets to intricate pattern books of Norwich silk weavers, this exhibition gathers the threads of Sebald’s enigmatic text to present a uniquely poetic visual portrait of East Anglia that will appeal to both those familiar and new to his work. The exhibition is at Norwich Castle until 5 January 2020. Spanish writer Javier Marias talks about books to read and cites Urn Burial by Sir Thomas Browne as being one of the books that not enough people read https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/books/review/javier-marias-by-the-book.html Sir Thomas Browne featured on Radio 4's 'In Our Time' programme with Melvyn Bragg on Thursday 6 June 2019, 9am
Hear it here on BBC Sounds https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0005ml9 Delighted to say that Sir Thomas Browne was the subject for Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time programme on BBC Radio 4 featuring Browne experts Claire Preston, Jessica Wolfe and Kevin Killeen on Melvin Bragg's 'In our Time' broadcast on Thursday 6 June - if you missed it or want to recap, listen again here.
WG Sebald : Two exhibitions in Norwich
WG Sebald : Lines of Sight at Norwich Castle 12 May –5 January 2020 W.G. SEBALD : Far Way—But from Where? 10 May - 18 August 2019 £8 | £7 Sainsbury Centre, Mezzanine Gallery Two exhibitions in Norwich are currently celebrating what would have been WG Sebald's 75th birthday had he survived a tragic car crash in 2001. Professor Sebald, or Max as he was commonly known, was a German academic based at UEA in Norwich where he also set up home. He was fascinated by Browne and quoted him often in his books. One of his most famous, Rings of Saturn follows a slow pensive walking journey in Suffolk. Find out about the exhibitions here and various events and articles linked to the exhibitions. https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/norwich-castle/whats-on/exhibitions/lines-of-sight New exhibition at Eton College from 10 May 2019
A new exhibition is due to open on 10th May 2019 at Tower Gallery, Eton College, entitled Death and the Doctor: Dying Burying and Afterlives in the Seventeenth Century. The exhibition is curated by Dr Lucy Gwynn who recently completed her PhD on Thomas Browne. The writings of Thomas Browne provide the starting point for the exhibition and themes from the publication of Urne-Buriall are contextualised and explored. The cast of Sir Thomas Browne’s skull from Norwich Hospital will also be on display for duration of the exhibition. Visits Monday to Fridays by appointment. Email collections@etoncollege.org or call 01753 37050.
Sir Thomas Browne Day 2018
For Thomas Browne Day 2018, poet and writer George Szirtes wrote a piece which he delivered at the National Centre for Writing, Dragon Hall, King Street, Norwich
Publications
A new edition of this book entitled Thomas Browne : Selected Works by Kevin Killeen has recently come out in paperback from Oxford University Press, at a wholly affordable price. Thomas Browne, Selected Works, edited by Kevin Killeen, contains all of Browne’s major writings, Religio Medici, Urn-Burial, and The Garden of Cyrus, and generous selections from Pseudodoxia Epidemica, as well as a selection of writings published after his death.
The volume is part a new series, ‘21st Century Oxford Authors’, and is ‘lightly modernised’ – the original spelling is generally retained, but punctuation is clarified when necessary. It includes an introduction to Browne, explanatory notes and commentary at the end of the book. Kevin Killeen is a lecturer in English Literature at the University of York, and is part of the team editing The Complete Works of Sir Thomas Browne, in 8 volumes, also from Oxford University Press, albeit in expensive format. He has written extensively on Browne, including the prize-winning Biblical Scholarship, Science and Politics in Early Modern Culture: Thomas Browne and The Thorny Place of Knowledge (2009). https://global.oup.com/academic/product/thomas-browne-9780198797654?lang=en&cc=gb 
Photo Sarah Cocke
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For Sir Thomas Browne Day 19 October 2019 Kevin Faulkner has recently completed 2 essays on Browne, one as a comparison between Goethe to Browne, the other, discussing Mario Bettini's book as a possible influence on The Garden of Cyrus including its fantastic early colour engraving. It also includes a little bit about the Poirier sculptures Homage to Thomas Browne and The Plantation Gardens' Victorian fountain. Sir Thomas Browne's own Facebook page www.facebook.com/theaquariumofvulcan/
A Glass of Spirits made of Æthereal Salt, Hermetically sealed up, kept continually in Quick-silver; of so volatile a nature that it will scarce endure the Light, and therefore onely to be shown in Winter, or by the light of a Carbuncle, or Bononian Stone'. From Museum Clausum 
Talking Statues - find out more hereAn newspaper article about C&A stores and the Haymarket/Hay Hill with the Thomas Browne statue in the centre
Tell us your Old Wives' TalesWe are collecting your Old Wives' Tales and Curious Questions. Why?
Click here to find out 
Musaeum Clausum - a work by Jules Allen and Phyllis Williams
His whole house and garden is a paradise and Cabinet of rarities and that of the best collection, amongst Medails, books, Plants, natural things 
'The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne
in the 21st Century' Now out in paperback and available from bookshops, Amazon and on Kindle etc Hugh Aldersey Williams' book about Sir Thomas Browne was published by Granta and launched at The Book Hive Norwich in 2015. See more here Those national repugnances doe not touch me, nor doe I behold with prejudice the French, Italian, Spaniard, or Dutch; but where I find their actions in balance with my Countrey-mens, I honour, love, and embrace them in the same degree; 
Norwich-born Kevin Faulkner has been performing as Browne for 20 years. As a 21st anniversary celebration he performed on Hay Hill on 19 October 2017
Links to other resources about Sir Thomas will be posted here
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About Sir Thomas Browne
Sir Thomas Browne lived and worked in Norwich from 1636 until his death in 1682. He was a physician, philosopher, botanist and writer and was very important in England at the time. He was well-liked in Norfolk, well-travelled and educated, religious and respected. There are traces of his time in Norwich all over the city and this site will tell you about his life and where to find out more about him.
If you have images, facts, documents or stories which you would like to add to this site, please email info@theshiftnorwich.org.uk for consideration
If you have images, facts, documents or stories which you would like to add to this site, please email info@theshiftnorwich.org.uk for consideration
The Man
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His Work
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Homage to Thomas Browne
Artists Anne and Patrick Poirier
The sculpture work on Hay Hill is an Homage to Thomas Browne, made by French husband and wife team of artists, Anne and Patrick Poirer. It was intended to be a set of street furniture, a kind of living room for the city (the Poiriers tend not to make art for simply looking at).
It was a major public art commission, installed in 2007 and paid for by Arts Council England East, Norwich City Council with a contribution by Norfolk County Council. Read more here |
About this site: this embryonic site has just been started by an informal Thomas Browne Appreciation Society to enable people to get to know Sir Thomas Browne better by collecting information relating to him in one place. We have received some funding to enable us to develop the site and will also be launching a crowd-funding campaign to develop further. Please bookmark and come back regularly for new content. .