Description: Printed in Zürich by Christopher Froschauer, 1560. Text in Latin (with names of fish and other words in various languages: German, Italian, French, English, Greek, etc.).LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 700 FINE WOODCUTS!RARE FIRST EDITION of Conrad Gessner's Nomenclator aquatilium animantium (which translates as "Nomenclature of the Aquatic Animals") intended as a handy “picture book” revision of his Historiae Animalium liber IV. qui est de piscium & aquatilium animantium natura - a comprehensive monograph on fish and aquatic animals, which formed the fourth volume of his monumental zoological encyclopedia, issued by the same Zurich press two years earlier (1558).Gessner’s Nomenclator “offers up a rich virtual banquet of images of sea creatures of every kind” (Anthony Grafton) while also providing (as promised by its title) a detailed nomenclature of the creatures in a wide variety of languages. Gessner, "one of the great polymaths of the Renaissance" (PMM), gathered an enormous amount of information from classic antiquity as well as contemporary authors and his own observations to provide the first accurate descriptions of countless species of fish and numerous other aquatic life-forms, from the beaver to the sea cucumber.Whereas Gessner describes the animals in alphabetical order in the other animal books, he proceeds with the nomenclature systematically in his ‘fish book’. He distinguishes marine animals from freshwater animals and presents classifications based primarily on the outward appearance of the animals. Sea monsters known from adventure reports and images are also included. Animals which live both in the water and on land are mentioned at the end of the book.Each entry starts by naming the fish or animal in different languages, followed by descriptions of its way of life, external appearance, and character. Finally, Gessner addresses its use as food or medicine. Each water animal’s description features o large, well-executed woodcut. Only a few of the images were done by Gessner himself. Gessner thanks the numerous scholars from all over Europe who sent him drawings and descriptions in the foreword.The work is divided into two parts. The first part is dealing with marine animals, the second with animals of the freshwater. The work does not only cover fish but basically any animal species that live in or around the water including mammals, mollusks, crustaceans, insects, etc., as well as some fantastic or mythical sea animals.The first part opens by a dedicatory letter to the Austrian Archduke and later Emperor Maximilian II. In the letter to the reader, Gessner mentions his other important zoological works, the Historia animalium and the different Icones animalium, and highlights the differences to the present work, with its focus on names of the species. Gessner mentions the great abundance of vernacular synonyms of water animals although he states that there are not always ancient Greek or Latin names for certain species, for those of the freshwaters far away from the Mediterranean in particular. He was therefore forced to come up with some new Latin terms. He has, however, marked such newly coined names with the letter “F.” (fictum). This letter is followed by an overview of the work and a copious index of animal names not only in Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, French, English, and German, but some entries also in Hebrew, Arab, Ethiopian, Hungarian, and Slavic languages.The first part ends on page 274 with an overview of marine animals according to their habitat according to the first book of Oppianus’ Haleutica. The second part is again divided into two ordines: The first deals with fish living in rivers, the second with fish living in lakes and other animals living in or by freshwater (including mammals like the hippopotamus, reptiles like the crocodile, insects, crustaceans, etc.). Gessner’s volume on fish and aquatic animals is fundamentally different in style and more systematic than Gessner’s other volumes. Due to a relative lack of literature on fish from the classical era, Gessner based this volume primarily on contemporary research and first-hand observation. As a result, although the species are described in alphabetical order, the descriptions place much emphasis on the physical appearance of species and provide references to wider groups of morphologically similar fish. The number of species Gessner describes here was absolutely unprecedented for the time.De Piscibus Marinis (1554) at around 450 species; in contrast, Gessner described around 750 in this first edition of the Nomenclator. Gessner’s descriptions of aquatic species focus on physical characteristics, habitat, nomenclature, and use as medicine or food. In his work on fish Gessner placed greater emphasis on the medical component than in his work on other animals, and it appears he regularly used fish in his medical practice.Gessner’s method of information gathering included both the study of books on natural history, and interviews with expert witnesses such as fishermen or famers, as well as direct observation of nature. In addition he obtained descriptions and depictions of species from an extended network of acquainted scholars across Europe. This network provided Gessner with much information on species that were new to science and subsequently first appeared in a printed work in Gessner’s Historiae Animalium. When he received such information on species he was unable to observe first hand, Gessner tried whenever possible to find sources that confirmed the observation. Occasionally this thoroughness led to confusion, as is demonstrated, for example, in the inclusion of an asp alongside the first depiction of a pike-perch in a scholarly work. Gessner obtained information on the latter species from four scholars who all lived near Prague, where the species was known under the name Schied. The depiction of the asp was taken from the Bavarian civil code, the Bairische Landt Ordnung, which restricted the catch of this species. The confusion stemmed from the fact that the asp was also locally known as Schied. Since the pike-perch at the time could only be found in Eastern Europe and Gessner was not able to verify the information he received from his acquaintances, he included the illustration of the asp alongside that of the pike-perch and added text explaining which information he obtained from which sources. Illustrations play a crucial role in Gessner’s books on animals. In particular in this volume on fish and aquatic animals, where more emphasis was placed on describing the physical characteristics, illustrations could demonstrate what the author tried to explain in his descriptions. Over 700 illustrations were included in the work; over half of these were copied from other books on the subject. The rest were obtained through Gessner’s extensive network of correspondents across Europe, made on commission, or drawn by the author himself. The use of his correspondents and of other publications on fish as sources of information meant Gessner was able to describe and depict species from all over Europe, including fish that were not local to Switzerland and he had never seen in real life. Gessner’s excellent understanding of the morphology of fish enabled him to assess whether or not a drawing of an unknown species was likely to be a realistic depiction. In his preface to the readers Gessner makes the general statement that very few illustrations are not realistic; with the exception of the fabulous Equus neptuni from Belon's work, and a number of illustrations taken by Olaus Magnus (1555). The terrifying drawings of whales of Olaus Magnus, like Balaena erecta and Cetis diversis, are mentioned by Gessner as examples of animals which exist but have not been correctly depicted.“For his research on the nomenclature of fish, Gessner studied ancient texts about aquatilia; he extensively used, among other contemporary publications, such as the fish book by Guillaume Rondelet, the Montpelier scholar who was among Gessner’s correspondents. The depictions and descriptions of whales and sea-monsters in the popular book by Uppsala’s archbishop Olaus Magnus about the northern lands were also of special interest to Gessner. In addition to such bookish learning, Gessner received a wealth of information from his numerous correspondents – he corresponded with more than 500 scholars, pharmacists, doctors and others.“The starting point for Gessner’s name-search were the ancient authors. However, they mainly addressed the aquatilia in the Mediterranean Sea, which do not necessarily correspond to the fauna north of the Alps. The writings of Aristotle, Pliny and Solinus were of major importance to the aquatilia. Didactic poetry, such as the Halieutica by Oppian, also had a profound influence. Also Ovid played a major role, since Pliny mentioned Ovid’s didactic poem about fish as a source in the 32nd book of his natural history. This poem has been known since the 9th or 10th century; but although it appears in many early modern Ovid editions, it is probably a medieval paraphrase of the fish Pliny listed in hexameters.“All these texts are not only considered by scholars for facts and dates, they are themself the object of major philological efforts in the 15th and 16th centuries, they are being commented, the manuscripts are being revisited, and the problem of how to translate Greek and Latin names into vernacular ones becomes crucial. […]“Gessner especially corrected the fish names according to other sources, added commentaries (scholia) and included an appendix with an enormous catalogue of German fish names. As already mentioned, he also initiated the printing of the German book about the fish in Lake Constance, written by Gregor Mangolt. Gessner was not able to find all the German names of fish in the books of his day. The copia verborum of fish names, which he presents in his list, is the result of fieldwork and extensive correspondence. Gessner used contacts abroad to collect data and had friends send him inventories of locally used fish names. “Gessner drew remarkably well, and he also systematically collected excellent drawings and paintings; this is evident in the original paintings used for the woodcuts of the Historia animalium, which were recently rediscovered by Florike Egmond. He sent images to his correspondents and asked them to inquire of the local fishermen the names they used. Here, Gessner also played an important role in the lexicography of German dialects. The appendix in his pseudo-Ovidian Halieutica edition is followed by separate lists of fish that were caught in the Rhine river in Strasbourg and one list of fish in the Elbe river in Dresden. The latter list was composed and sent to Gessner by Johannes Kentmann, who produced a beautiful, handwritten herbal – the spectacular script can be viewed in Dresden’s library. To give an impression of the work on fish names and its epochal dimensions, I will present the Strasbourg list (the Rhine fish are of course also somewhat relevant to Lake Constance).” (Tobias Bulang, The Many Names of Fish: Scientific and Poetic Fish Nomenclature in the Writings of Johann Fischart and Conrad Gessner, In: Ichthyology in Context (1500–1880), pp. 111-122)Conrad Gessner (1516 – 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his talents and supported him through university, where he studied classical languages, theology and medicine. He became Zürich's City Physician, but was able to spend much of his time on collecting, research and writing. Gessner compiled monumental works on bibliography (Bibliotheca universalis 1545–1549) and zoology (Historia animalium 1551–1558) and was working on a major botanical text at the time of his death from plague at the age of 49. He is regarded as the father of modern scientific bibliography, zoology and botany. He was frequently the first to describe species of plants or animals in Europe, such as the tulip in 1559. A number of plants and animals have been named after him.Gessner’s famous encyclopedia of the animal kingdom and the first systematic Renaissance treatise on zoology - Historia animalium - consisted of four massive folio volumes: following Aristotle’s classification of animals, the first volume dealt with viviparous quadrupeds; the second - with oviparous quadrupeds; the third - with birds; and the fourth - with aquatic animals. It was “the most influential zoological book between Aristotle and the publication of Ray’s classification of fauna in 1693 [...]; it remained the standard reference book even as late as Linnaeus.” (PMM)Bibliographical references:Adams G 551; Nissen FBI 60 u. ZBI 1554; Dean, Bibliography of Fishes, Vol. III, p.250; Engelmann, Bibliotheca historico-naturalis, pp. 357. Welisch, Conrad Gessner, 31.1; Vischer C 571; Rudolphi 528. Physical description:Two parts in one volume. Tall Folio, leaves measure 364 mm x 215 mm. Bound in 20th-century full limp vellum with yapp edges; flat spine with a printed paper label.Pagination: [28], 374, [2] pages. Collation: aa6 bb8 A-Z6 a-g6 h8. COMPLETE, including internal blank Z6.Illustrated with over 700 fine woodcut illustrations of various kinds of fish, aquatic animals, etc. Woodcut decorative initials. Text printed mainly in roman letter, with some use of italic letter, as well as gothic, Greek and Hebrew types.Preliminaries include a dedicatory epistle by Gessner to Archduke of Austria, Maximilian (1527 – 1576), later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II); followed by Gessner’s preface to the reader (Ad lectorem praefatio), then a table of chapters in the work, and a comprehensive index of names of fish and other animals (Indices nominum aquatilium) described in the work, in a variety of languages.The two parts have continuous pagination, although Part II has a special divisional title on p.[277], and its own dedication by Gessner (to the Senate of the city of Basel). The Part II itself consists of two sections; the 2nd section begins on page 337 with a laudatory poem by Johannes Rosinus to Baron Sigmund Herberstein (1486 – 1566) a diplomat, writer, historian and member of the Council of Holy Roman Empire, and a dedicatory epistle to Herberstein by Gessner. Included at the end of the volume is some additional material (Addenda) and Gessner’s appendix on the German names of some fishes.The recto of the final leaf (h8r) contains verses praising God the Creator in six languages: Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, French, and German (verso blank).Provenance:Title-page with a very early (late 16th-century?) English ownership inscription of ‘Michael Lapworth’, most likely the Michael Lapworth, who (according to DNB) was elected fellow of All Souls' College (Oxford) in 1562, graduated M.B. in 1573; and later served as physician to Henry Berkeley. 7th Baron, KB (1534 – 1613), Lord Lieutenant and Vice-Admiral of Gloucestershire. He was the father of Edward Lapworth (1574–1636), an English physician and Latin poet, and the first Sedleian reader at the University of Oxford.Another inscription (of about the same period) to the title-page of M[ichael?] Garth (crossed out).The handwritten note “a doggefishe” next to the woodcut illustration of a Carcharias shark in a late 16th-century English hand, possibly by one of the above-mentioned early owners.I purchased this book from Lux and Umbra Books and it's they who did the work on all this research shown in the description.Condition:Very Good antiquarian condition. Complete. Vellum binding slightly rubbed, with some wear to rear joint (with very short superficial tear at foot of spine). Title-leaf cut down with margins cropped and laid down on its blank verso over an old paper sheet (probably flyleaf from original binding), with loss of just 2 letters in the printer’s name (in the imprint). Internally with occasional light marginal soiling or minor spotting. Leaf N5 with a short closed tear to bottom (blank) margin without any loss. Quite well-margined, although a couple of woodcuts, which extend well beyond the regular printed area, just touched by binder’s knife at fore-edge. In all, a pleasing, clean and solid example of this magnificently illustrated Renaissance encyclopedia of fish and aquatic life.
Price: 4995 USD
Location: Kohler, Wisconsin
End Time: 2024-10-07T16:35:22.000Z
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Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Binding: Fine Binding
Place of Publication: Zürich
Language: Latin
Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Illustrated, COMPLETE, Names of animals also given in Italian, French, English, etc., OVER 700 FINE WOODCUTS: FISHES, WHALES, CRUSTACEANS, MONSTERS etc, EARLY ENGLISH PROVENANCE
Region: Europe
Author: Conrad Gesner
Publisher: Christopher Froschauer
Country/Region of Manufacture: Switzerland
Topic: Biological Science
Subject: Illustrated
Year Printed: 1560
Original/Facsimile: Original