HISTORIAE NATURALIS DE QUADRUPEDIBUS. [with] DE PISCIBUS ET CETIS. [with] DE EXANGUIBUS AQUATICIS. [with] DE AVIBUS. [with] DE INSECTIS. [with] DE SERPENTIBUS

Jonstonus, Johannes

Published by J. J. Schipper, Amsterdam, 1657

About this Item

folio (374 x 237 mm). full leather, five raised bands. (3)-6, (2), 162, (1); (3)-5, (3), 160; (ff), (2)-58, (2); (12), 160; (8), 147, (1); (2), 37, (1) pages. Text by Johannes Jonston, the well-known Polish scholar and physician. Second edition of this famous and important and wonderfully illustrated work on natural history with great influence well into the 18th century. The text is printed in double columns, and the engraved title and the plates contain the same figures as the first edition (1650). Complete with 249 plates, most with several figures each. This edition consits of six separately paginated parts. The illustrations include: Quadrupedibus: 80 plages, Piscibus et Cetis: 47 plages, Aquaticis: 20 plates, Avibus: 62 plates, Insectis: 28 plates, and Serpentibus: 12 plates. Two mis-bindings: plate 69 of Quadrupedibus bound after plate 70 and plate 23 of De Piscibus et Cetis bound after plate 24. Page number 37 of the De Sperpentibus misprinted '27'. Frontispiece accompanying four of the volumes: Quadrupedibus, Piscibus et Cetis, Avibut, and Insectis. Furthermore, our copy has '1657' on all six titlepages, whereas some copies have both '1657' and '1665', suggesting that some copies were bound with a later printing / edition. Graesse III, 477-478; Nissen ZBI 2131, 2133, 2134; 2132, and 2135; Anker 235; Wood, page 409. Covers rubbed, with some minor wear to spine ends. Some worm holes along the board edges and inside the pastedowns. Title page with a few very small worm holes. One wormhole effecting the final twenty-three leaves. Else the textblock is very clean and well-preserved in what is normally a heavily-worn book. Jonston's complete and comprehensive compilation of the animal kingdom lavishly illustrated with hundreds of engraved figures, many fanciful or imaginary, many the work of the great German artist Matthew Merian. Jonston was a physician of Scottish descent, born on the Continent, where he spent the better part of his life. Jonston practiced other occupations in addition to being a physician, and in 1650 he published the first version of his zoology. Jonston is now seen chiefly as a "learned compiler" and his sources for the present work were wide ranging, but probably the main influence was Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605). In addition to the technical merits of this book, Jonston also had a good imagination, as some of the creatures illustrated never existed: hippos with strange features, dragons, unicorns, griffons, and animals with human faces. full leather, five raised bands. Seller Inventory # 138954

Bibliographic Details

Title: HISTORIAE NATURALIS DE QUADRUPEDIBUS. [with]...

Publisher: J. J. Schipper, Amsterdam

Publication Date: 1657

Binding: Hardcover

Illustrator: Natural History

Edition: 1st Edition