Milestones of Science Books

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius / PLINY THE ELDER.

Historia naturale . . . di lingua latina in fiorentina tradocta per . . . Christophero Landino . . . novame[n]te correcta . .

Venice: Melchior Sessa & P. Ravani, 1516.

5th Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003136

14 August 1516. Folio (297 x 203 mm). [14], CCXIX, [1] leaves. Signatures: aa6 bb8 a-r? s6 A-O8 P6. Colophon on P5v, text in two columns. Including the final blank P6, title printed in red and black, printer's device on title, 38 woodcut illustrations in text, several large figurative- and small woodcut initials. Bound in 19th century vellum, spine with gilt lettering and ruling, boards with gilt ruling and central floral gilt tooling, vellum turn-ins gilt-decoated, red-dyed edges, marbled endpapers (spine and hinges at foot with light water damage, upper hinge cracked but holding). Text generally bright and clean, light dampstaining to lower gutter thoughout, occasional very minor spotting, single worm hole at lower margin of first gatherings, closed tear in leaf F7, some contemporary ink notes (mostly shaved at fore-margin). Provenances: Dyonisius Corronius (insription on title), whose library was composed of Greek and medical manuscripts (see Meyier, "Paul en Alexandre Petau en de geschiedenis van hun handschriften", 1947, p. 42); Nannet, Oratorian (inscribed on title); Jean Nélis (bookplate to fron pastedown); Mention of purchase in Lyon on title; Georges Petit. A nice, crisp copy. ----
br>Edit16 30044; Mortimer (Harvard Italian) 388; Essling 5; STC Italian 527; not in Adams.. Fifth Italian translation by Cristoforo Landino (1st 1476) of Pliny's famous scientific encyclopaedia, and the first to be illustrated. The woodcuts, with one exception, were already used in the first illustrated Latin edition of 1513. A fine specimen of early 16th century Italian typography. With 38 woodcuts, including maps of Europe and Africa as well as representations of mining, handicraft, medicine, music and others.
In his great encyclopaedia Pliny set forth by his own count 20,000 facts compiled from 2,000 different works, all of which he scrupulously cited in his remarkably thorough indices. The 36 books of this vast compilation, the only extant work of more than 100 said to have been composed by Pliny, cover cosmology, mathematics, geography, medicine, zoology, agriculture, botany, history, philosophy, anthropology, mineralogy, and the arts and literature. When Pliny died at the age of 56 while observing the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the work was still unfinished. The importance of the Historia naturalis for the study of ancient art has somewhat been overshadowed by its renown as the first encyclopaedia of natural history. In fact, the Historia remains a principal source of information on the development of sculpture and painting and the techniques of metalworking and silversmithing in antiquity, topics covered in the last four books. Together with Vitruvius' De architectura, Pliny's work is one of few extant testimonies to the flowering of art criticism and art historical study in the Roman period. - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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