Historia animalium (Gessner book)
Historiae animalium (History of animals) is an encyclopedic work done by Conrad Gesner, a doctor and professor at the University of Zurich. It was written between 1551 and 1558 and is a first modern zoological work in an attempt to describe all the animals known. The five volumes of animal natural history consists of more than forty five hundred pages.[1]
Historiae animalium was the most widely read of all the Renaissance natural histories. It is the first book with fossil illustrations.[2][3] Gesner’s monumental work is a record of all the animals that was referred to by ancient scholars as well as all the modern authorities at the time. His work was the most extensive information on animals up to its publication. Gesner’s Historiae animalium is based on Hebrew, Greek, and Latin sources. The encyclopedic work is a compilation from folklore and ancient and medieval texts. The work included authortative knowledge by centuries of ancient naturalists like Aristotle and Pliny.[1]
The encyclopedic work was written on all known animals then known. These included mythical creatures, imaginary beasts, strange newly discovered animals of the East Indies and those of the far north. It also included animals brought back from the New World. In his gigantic work Gesner sought to distinguish facts from myths. The work included extensive information on mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles. It described in detail their daily habits and movements. It also included their uses in medicine and nutrition.[1]
Historiae animalium showed the animal places in history, literature and art. Sections of each chapter detailed the animal and its attibutes as it related to these. Gesner's work included facts in different languages such as the names of the animals. His information drew from folktales, myths, and legends. The woodcut illustrations were the first real attempts to represent animals in their natural environment.
The first volume is an illustrated work of 1,100 folio pages on live-bearing four-footed animals. Volume 2 was on egg-laying quadrupeds. Volume 3 was on birds. Volume 4 was on fishes and aquatic animals. There was a fifth volume published on snakes and scorpions which was put out after Gesner’s death. At the time of publication there was extreme religious tension. Historiae animalium was added to the Catholic Church's index of prohibited books.
Notes
- ^ a b c "Cambridge University Library". Retrieved 2008-09-09.
- ^ Anzovin, Steven, Famous First Facts by H. W. Wilson Company (2000), ISBN 0-8242-0958-3, p. 256 The first fossil illustrations were contained in the Historiae animalium, published in 1551 by Swiss physician and naturalist Conrad von Gesner.
- ^ Tallack, Peter, The Science Book, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2006, ISBN 1841882542, p. 46 Gesner’s classical training taught him to give pride of place to naming and classifying the fossils he described. Most importantly, he was concerned with precise identification. His book was the first to present fossil illustrations so students may more easily recognize objects that cannot be very clearly described in words.
Bibliography
- Daston, Lorraine et al, Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750, Zone books, 2001, ISBN 0-9422999-1-4
- Eamon, William, Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, Princeton University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-6910260-2-5
- Fudge, Erica, Renaissance Beasts: Of Animals, Humans, and Other Wonderful Creatures, University of Illinois Press, 2004, ISBN 0-2520288-0-5
- Gesner, Conrad et al, Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts - A Selection of 190 Sixteenth-century Woodcuts from Gesner's and Topsell's Natural Histories, Dover Publications, 1971, ISBN 0-4862270-1-4
- Huxley, Robert et al, The Great Naturalists, Thames & Hudson, 2007, ISBN 0-5002513-9-8
- Jardine, Secord et al, Cultures of Natural History, Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-5215589-4-8
- Library Company of Phil, Legacies of Genius: A Celebration of Philadelphia Libraries: A Selection of Books, Manuscripts, & Works of Art, ISBN 1-1514547-1-0
- Ogilvie, Brian W., The Science of Describing: Natural History in Renaissance Europe, University of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN 0-2266208-7-5
- Pavord, Anna, The Naming of Names - The Search for Order in the World of Plants, Bloomsbury, 2005, ISBN 1-5969107-1-2
- Rudwick, Martin J.S., The Meaning of Fossils, University of Chicago Press, 1976, ISBN 0-2267310-3-0
- Topsell, Edward, Konrad Gesner, et al, The history of four-footed beasts and serpents and insects, Da Capo Press, 1967, ISBN 0-3067092-3-6