Milestones of Science Books

BOAISTUAU, Pierre; TESSERANT, Claude de; BELLEFOREST, Francois de; HOYER, Rod.

Histoires Prodigieuses extraictes du plusieurs fameux autheurs.

Paris: Hieronymus de Marnef & the widow of Gulielmus Cavellat, 1580.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002627

1580-1582. 5 parts in 1 volume. 8vo (120 x 75 mm). [10], 191, [3] ff; 120, [8]; 372, [4]; 80, [8]; 159 [1] pp. including 2 blanks at end of pt. 2 and 1 blank at end of pt. 4. Titles with woodcut printer's devices, part 4 penultimate f. with woodcut printer's device, 102 woodcuts by Jean Cousin within text, woodcut decorative initials and tail-pieces. Signatures: A-Z8 AA-BB8 CC4, A-H8, Aa-Zz8 AAa4, A-E8 F4, A-K8. 20th century burgundy crushed morocco, all edges gilt, spine and boards ruled in gilt, spine lettered in gilt (spine faded, boards and extremities rubbed), marbled endpapers. Upper- and fore-margin closely trimmed but without affecting text. Light waterstains in places, occasional very minor spotting. Contemporary ink annotations to few leaves. A handsome copy, quite clean and crisp internally. ----

Caillet II, 5186bis; not in Adams. The rare first complete edition of this work on demons, sea-monsters, serpents, monstrous births, comets, earthquakes and floods, amongst other unnatural and natural phenomena, with many of the bizarre creatures brought to life in the woodcuts. Only the first part is by Boaistuau, with part 2 by Claude de Tesserant parts 3 and 5 by François de Belleforest and part 4 (dated 1580) by R. Hoyer. The work includes 102 woodcuts by Jean Cousin within the text representing monsters and prodigies whose stories are told. The taste of the times for the marvelous and the strange has been expressed in numerous publications which attempted to describe and list the monsters of the World. This one, first published in 1560, enjoyed a great success throughout Europe, and gave Boaistuau the respect of the learned community.

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