The Anatomy of Melancholy

Robert Burton (8 Feb 1577 – 25 Jan 1640) was an English scholar at Oxford University, best known for the classic The Anatomy of Melancholy. Burton was educated at Oxford, elected a student (life fellow) of Christ Church (one of the colleges of the university) in 1599, and lived there the rest of his life, becoming a bachelor of divinity in 1614 and vicar of St. Thomas’s Church, Oxford, in 1616.

The Anatomy of Melancholy  is presented as a medical textbook on the subject of melancholia. Much of the book consists of quotations from various ancient and medieval medical authorities, beginning with Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen. Filled with specific humor and lots of interesting facts, this book about melancholia may be just the cure for it that you were looking for.