Robert Burton (1577-1640) matriculated at Oxford at the age of 15 and remained there for the rest of his life, eventually being appointed librarian of Christ Church College. Inspired by his own struggle with melancholy, Burton began research into the subject, eventually amassing the collection of musings and quotations that would become The Anatomy of Melancholy. It has been celebrated and ransacked by readers from Samuel Johnson, John Keats, and Laurence Sterne to Northrop Frye, Phillip Pullman and Nick Cave. First published in 1621, the work was immensely popular, and was expanded and reprinted five times over the course of Burton's life.

Becca Rothfeld trained in philosophy. She is the non-fiction book critic at the Washington Post, and the author of essay collection All Things Are Too Small.