Robert Plot’s <i>The Natural History of Staffordshire</i> and the Publication of Early Modern Local Natural Histories

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  • 近世英国における地域博物誌の誕生―ロバート・プロット著『スタフォードシャーの博物誌』の背景と意義―
  • キンセイ エイコク ニ オケル チイキハクブツシ ノ タンジョウ : ロバート ・ プロット チョ 『 スタフォードシャー ノ ハクブツシ 』 ノ ハイケイ ト イギ

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<p>Robert Plot (1640–96) was an English antiquary and naturalist, and his publications The Natural History of Oxfordshire (1677) and The Natural History of Staffordshire (1686) were among the first examples of regional natural history in England. They differed from the conventional antiquarian studies in that the author was more interested in the scientific aspects of the past. This study mainly examines The Natural History of Staffordshire, the second natural history by Plot, a book which has not received much critical attention. First of all, this study looks at the background and method of its production. Then, references are made to selected passages which indicate the uniqueness and novelty of Plot’s insights, in order to show how this work might have influenced its contemporary and future readers and authors. Lastly, comparisons with early modern Japanese natural history writings are also made to highlight the unusual, but probably coincidental similarities in the understanding of nature and interpretations of natural phenomena both in the East and the West. This study concludes that Plot’s Staffordshire was a new style of antiquarian inquiry, containing a great deal of scientific information and insights, which need to be more fully examined by scholars from various disciplines.</p>

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