The Historie of the World, commonly called the Naturall Historie.

Plinius Secundus, Gaius (Pliny the Elder).

Published by London, Adam Islip, 1601.

About this Item

Folio (32 x 20 cm). 2 vols. in one. (58), 614, (42) pp. (12), 632, (86) pp. Elaborate woodcut device on title-page; woodcut initials, head and tailpieces. 19th century half morocco & marbled boards, spine tooled in blind, lettered in gilt, raised bands. Pliny the Elder's renowned Natural History in its first publication in English, translated by Philemon Holland, the greatest translator of the Elizabethan age. The "Naturalis Historia" is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny. He claims to be the only Roman ever to have undertaken such a work. It comprised 37 books in 10 volumes and covered over 20.000 facts on topics including the fields of botany, zoology, astronomy, geology and mineralogy as well as the exploitation of those resources. It remains a standard work for the Roman period and the advances in technology and understanding of natural phenomena at the time. Some technical advances he discusses are the only sources for those inventions, such as hushing in mining technology or the use of water mills for crushing or grinding corn. Much of what he wrote about has been confirmed by archaeology. "We know from Pliny that there were important pearl fisheries in the Gulf [.] Pliny identifies Tylos (Bahrain) as a place famous for its pearls [. He] attests that pearls were the most highly rated valuable in Roman society, and that those from the Gulf were specially praised [.] The pearl related finds at the site of El-Dur indicate the site was integrated into the maritime trade routes linking the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, India and South Arabia" (Carter). Book 6 holds a chapter that gives the first detailed account of the regions around the Gulf, including what are now Qatar, the Emirates and Oman. - Includes the final printed leaf in vol. 2, containing the errata and printer's colophon. In this copy, the title-page was evidently cut horizontally, above the device, then pieced back together, backed with early laid paper, with the lower half slightly darkened. - STC 20029. Pforzheimer 496. Seller Inventory # 45567

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Historie of the World, commonly called ...

Publisher: London, Adam Islip, 1601.

Binding: Hardcover