Lost Collections Database

The Clusius Network (March 2025 version)

 

This research tool in the form of an Excel spreadsheet contains a survey of a very large part of the network of the naturalist Carolus Clusius (1526–1609). It was created in 2005–2009 by the members of the Clusius Project based at Leiden University: Florike Egmond, Esther van Gelder, and Sylvia van Zanen.

 

The 664 entries in this spreadsheet include Clusius’s correspondents as well as other persons mentioned in his main published works (giving page references); summary information about their locations, social position, and connection with Clusius; other comments; and occasionally brief descriptions of the contents of these letters. Please note that references to the literature on each person have not been updated since 2011.

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High resolution images of the original Clusius Correspondence in the collection of the Leiden University Library can be consulted via the library's website: https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/clusiuscorrespondence. For (partial) transcriptions of these letters, see: https://clusiuscorrespondence.huygens.knaw.nl.

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Publications by members of the Clusius Project that have made intensive use of this research tool include:

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• Egmond, Florike, Paul Hoftijzer, and Robert Visser (eds.), Carolus Clusius. Towards a Cultural History of a Renaissance Naturalist (Amsterdam, 2007). Free download available at: https://dwc.knaw.nl/literatuur/boekenreeks-history-of-science-and-scholarship-in-the-netherlands/.

• Egmond, Florike, The World of Carolus Clusius. Natural History in the Making, 1550-1610 (London, 2010). Available online at Egmond's academia.edu page.

• Gelder, Esther van, Tussen hof en keizerskroon: Carolus Clusius en de ontwikkeling van de botanie aan Midden-Europese hoven (1573–1593) (PhD diss. Leiden University, 2011).

• Gelder, Esther van, and Nicolas Robin (eds.), “Flowers of Passion and Distinction: Practice, Expertise and Identity in Clusius’ World” (special issue), Jahrbuch für Europäische Wissenschaftskultur / Yearbook for European Culture of Science (2011).

• Zanen, Sylvia van, “Jacques Plateau and Carolus Clusius: A Shared Passion for
Gardens and Plants,” in Jahrbuch für Europäische Wissenschaftskultur / Yearbook for European Culture of Science (special issue: “Flowers of Passion and Distinction: Practice, Expertise and Identity in Clusius’ World”, ed. Esther van Gelder and Nicolas Robin) (2011), 39–68.

• Zanen, Sylvia van, Planten op papier. Het pionierswerk van Carolus Clusius (1526-1609) (Amsterdam, 2019; based her PhD diss.).

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