Abstract

Martin Lister (1639–1712) was a prominent Fellow of the Royal Society who was made an honorary MD in 1684. A benefactor of the Ashmolean, he corresponded regularly on natural history with its keepers, Robert Plot and Edward Lhuyd. Furthermore, Lister was a prolific corresponding Fellow, and he issued a steady stream of letters from his medical practice in York, many of which were printed in the Philosophical Transactions. Later in life he moved to London, where he acted as Vice-President of the Royal Society and also as Censor of the Royal College of Physicians. In 1697–78 he travelled abroad, and finally retired to Epsom, where he continued to transact voluminous correspondence. Lister was one of the most high-profile and well-connected naturalists of the age. His 1,140 letters thus provide a unique window onto early enlightenment cultures of medicine and natural philosophy throughout Britain and continental Europe. They are calendared digitally within the Early Modern Letters Online; abstracts of letters and selected manuscript images are also provided.