Evelyn, John (1620 -1706)

John Evelyn was the fourth child and second son of Richard Evelyn, of Wotton in Surrey, and Eleanor, daughter and heir of John Standsfield, of Lewes in Sussex. . He was educated at Southover Free School and Balliol College, Oxford, but left without a degree, and took chambers in the Middle Temple. He was given an honorary DCL in 1669. At the beginning of the Civil War, he had royal permission to travel on the continent. In 1647 he married at Paris, Mary, only daughter and heir of Sir Richard Browne, ambassador there, and with her received Sayes Court, near Deptford in Kent. He returned there in 1657. The King made him a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1662, one of the commissioners for the sick and wounded in 1664, and a member of the Board for the Improvement of Trade. In 1685 he was appointed one of the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord Privy Seal. Evelyn was interested in all practical arts, and published books on gardening, engraving, and the arrangement of libraries. In a letter from Sayes Court 18 January 1696/7, he speaks of his library as containing nearly twenty two thousand volumes. In 1767 J. Robson a bookseller at the Feathers in New Bond Street bought a portion privately. The Evelyn library was sold at Christie's 10 May; 22 June; 26 July; 1 November; 16 November 1977; 8 November 1978; and 14 February 1979 by order of the Evelyn trustees. The catalogue contains a full account of the bookstamps used by John Evelyn and his father in law Sir Richard Browne admirably illustrated.