Richard Eden (translator)
Richard Eden (c. 1520–1576) was an English alchemist and translator. His translations of the geographical works of other writers helped to foster enthusiasm for overseas exploration in Tudor England.[1]
Early life
Richard Eden, the son of a cloth merchant, attended
From the late 1540s Eden worked for Richard Whalley, who would be Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1595. He was salaried at £20 per annum as he sought the secret of turning base metal into gold.[1]
Eden set out to translate Vannoccio Biringuccio's De la pirotechnia into English and had completed the first 22 chapters in 1552, but he made the mistake of lending out the manuscript and was unable to retrieve it. However, he included a translation of its first three chapters in his Decades of the new worlde of 1555, although he omitted Biringuccio's attack on alchemists.[3]
Overseas exploration
The new protector, the
In 1555 Eden's
In 1562 Eden became secretary to
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Hadfield 2004.
- ^ "Eden, Richard (EDN521R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- Martha Teach Gnudi, New York: The American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 1942, pp. xxi-xxii.
- ^ Arber 1885, p. xliv.
- ^ Lemon 1856, p. 467.
References
- Arber, Edward, ed. (1885). The First Three English Books on America. Birmingham. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Hadfield, Andrew (2004). "Eden, Richard (c.1520–1576)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8454. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Lemon, Robert, ed. (1856). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reigns of Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth, 1547-1580. London: Longman, Brown, Green. p. 467. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
- Parker, John (1965). Books to Build an Empire. Amsterdam: N. Israel.