Dr Cowley's Reading List: Annotation, Completion, and the Problem of Plants in Sex Libri Plantarum

Abraham Cowley’s Sex Libri Plantarum (1668) is one of the most learned texts of the English Restoration. Presented as a guide to a subject 'that lies out of the common Road of Learning', it includes copious notes relating its treatment of plants to sources including classical literature and modern scientific works. In this article we quantify key aspects of Cowley’s annotational practice, identifying both his most frequent citations and some of the more unexpected texts to which he alludes. We compare his use of citation in Plantarum with texts by other contemporary writers, including John Evelyn and John Milton, as well as with his own annotated poetry of the 1650s. We also discuss Cowley’s own statements on his annotational practice, and consider how his use of notes enabled him both to justify his poetic and intellectual project in Plantarum and to see a long-form poem through to completion.