Facets

c. 512

#6816

Vienna Dioscorides. Codex Vindobonensis Med. Gr. 1.

The oldest surviving copy of Pedanius Dioscorides's treatise on medical botany and pharmacology, De materia medica, is an illuminated Byzantine manuscript produced about 512 CE. Dioscorides, a Greek physician, who may…

c. 830

#9042

Sammelband: Vita Sancti Symeonis; Physiologus latinus; Fredegarii Chronicon; Sermo S. Effrem; etc. Burgerbibliothek Codex Bongarsianus 318.

The earliest surviving illustrated manuscript version of the Physiologus. Digital facsimile of the codex from e-codices.unifr.ch at this link. This 9th century codex, from the Rheims scriptorium, was first published i…

1467

#2190

De sermonum proprietate sive Opus de universo.

Also known as De rerum naturis. This dictionary or encyclopedia is the earliest known printed book to include a section dealing with medicine, and this brief section, Book 18, Chap. V concerning medicine and diseases,…

1469

#89

Historia naturalis, libri XXXVII.

The most ancient Western encyclopedia extant, Pliny’s Historia contained essentially all that was known in his time concerning geography, mineralogy, anthropology, botany, zoology and meteorology. Books XX-XXXII deal …

1471

#11746

Ruralia commoda.

The most famous medieval agricultural treatise, and, apart from the Bartholomaeus Anglicus's De proprietatibus rerum, the earliest non-classical work to deal with agriculture and viticulture. The author, a successful …

1475

#276.1

Buch der Natur.

The first printed book to contain illustrations of animals, and the first notable scientific book in German. It discusses animals, birds, fish, anatomy, physiology, plagues, the medicinal value of plants and stones, e…

1476

#274

De animalibus. Translated by Theodorus Gaza. Edited by Ludovicus Podocarthus.

Includes Aristotle's De historia animalium, De partibus animalium, and De generatione animalium. Aristotle was the first scientist to gather empirical evidence about the biological world through observation. By his ca…

1478

#1959.2

Von Bewahrung und Bereitung der Weine.

The first printed book on wine, its production and preservation, translated from the Latin by Wilhelm von Hirnkofen. It discusses the value of wine in diet and as a medication. Wine has been called the oldest document…

1478

#276

De animalibus. Edited by Fernandus Cordubensis (Fernando de Córdoba).

Albertus was a Dominican monk and the most eminent naturalist of the 13th century; his work on animals contained a good deal of personal observation. He was the first to comment on virtually all of the writings of Ari…

1478

#7086

Halieutica, sive de piscatu. [Translated by Lorenzo Lippi, with recipes for cooking added by Lippi.]

The didactic poem on fish and fishing by Oppian of Anazarbus, a 2nd-century Greco-Roman poet, survived the Middle Ages essentially in its entirety, consisting of 3500 lines in Greek. The poem was dedicated to the empe…

c. 1481 –c. 1482

#6811

Herbarium Apulei.

The first printed herbal with illustrations was an illustrated edition of the Herbarium Apulei by Apuleius Platonicus or Pseudo-Apuleius, originally compiled circa 400 CE or earlier, and issued in Rome by the printer …

1482

#8979

Physiologus de naturis duodecim animalium.

The earliest printed edition (circa 1482) of the Physiologus, a Christological natural historical work that originated in Late Antiquity, and remained popular through the Middle Ages. This edition, which was very wide…

1491

#1797

Hortus sanitatis.

HORTUS SANITATIS

First edition of an herbal and general treatise on natural history which became very popular; based on the unusually large number of surviving copies in institutions it must have also been a bestseller. The plant illu…

1509

#8445

Medicinae Pliniae libri quinque finiunt foeliciter.

The Medicina Plinii was an anonymous compilation of remedies dating to the early 4th century CE ."The excerptor, saying that he speaks from experience, offers the work as a compact resource for travelers in dealing wi…

1511

#9183

Libellus de lapidibus preciosis nuper editus.

The earliest medieval lapidary, and also the one which was quoted most widely. By the fourteenth century it was translated into French, Provençal, Italian, Irish, and Danish, and it was the first of Marbodius's works …

1517

#7111

Oppianou Alieuticon biblia pente. Tou autou Kynegetikon biblia tessara. Oppiani De piscibus libri V. Eiusdem De venatione libri IV. Oppiani De piscibus Laurentio Lippio interprete libri V.

First edition in print of Oppian of Apamea's Cynegetica (Κυνηγετικά/KynÄ“getiká, 'On Hunting' ), a didactic poem in 2144 hexameters and 4 books, dedicated to the emperor Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus A…

1519

#9962

Summa de Geografia que trata de todas las partidas e provincias del mundo en especial de las indias e trata largamente del arte del marcar...

This was the first book on the Americas printed in Spanish. "Enciso was the first conquistadore to take up his pen with educational intent." In this general treatise on geography Enciso included a discussion of the fa…

1525

#1800

Sumario de la natural historia de las Indias.

First known description of the medicinal plants of Central America. Oviedo first described chigoe (“jiggers”?) in this book. "The book is divided into 86 chapters, focused mostly on American flora and fauna. It begins…

1533

#7793

Tou sophōtatou Philē, Stichoi iambikoi peri zōōn idiotētos.

The Greek text edited by Aristoboulos Apostolis (1465-1536), who became Arsenios, Archbishop of Monemvasia in 1514. Philes' Greek text was reedited by Joachim Camerarius with Latin translation by G. Bermann and first …

1533

#8952

Ex Aeliani historia per Petrum Gyllium latini facti, itemque ex Porphyrio, Heliodoro, Oppiano: Tum eodem Gyllio luculentis accessionibus aucti libri XVI. De ui & natura animalium. Eiusdem Gyllij liber unus, de gallicis & latinis nominibus piscium.

Editio princeps of Aelianus's late antique work on natural history. Along with Aelianus's text Gyllius included his own “Liber summarius de Gallicis et Latinis nominibus piscium Massiliensium” [Book on the French and …

1551

#278

L'histoire naturelle des estranges poissons marins, avec la vraie peincture & description du daulphin, & de plusieurs autres de son espece.

This, Belon’s first biological work, is regarded as the earliest modern scientific work in the field of comparative anatomy. Finely illustrated with woodcuts. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1553

#279

De aquatilibus, libri duo cum [epsilon] [iota] conibus ad viuam ipsorum effigiem, quoad eius fieri potuit, expressis.

Considerably expanded from Belon's work of 1551. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1553

#8982

Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables, trouuées en Grece, Asie, Iudée, Egypte, Arabie, & autres pays estranges, redigées en trois livres.

Belon was first trained as an apothecary, and worked in that capacity for the bishop of Clermont, Guillaume Duprat. Around 1542 he studied medicine In Paris, and obtained a licentiate in medicine, though he never took…

1554

#13119

Aquatilium animalium historiae. Liber primus cum eorumdem formis aere excusis.

Salviani taught at the University of Rome until 1568, after which he was chief physician to the House of Farnese and three successive popes, Pope Julius III, Pope Marcellus II and Pope Paul IV. "Salviani’s work was pu…

1555

#283

L'histoire de la nature des oyseaux, avec leurs descriptions, et naïfs portraicts retirez du naturel escrite en sept livres.

Belon’s book on birds is well illustrated, including plates of the skeletons of man and bird side by side and in the same posture, to compare them bone for bone. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1556

#7087

Claudii Aeliani... opera, quae extant omnia: Graece Latineque e regione, uti versa hac pagina commemorantur... Conradi Gesneri.

First edition in print, edited by Conrad Gessner, of Aelianus's collected works, including On the nature of animals (On the characteristics of animals). Aelianus was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourish…

1558

#8984

Les remonstrances sur le default du labour et culture des plantes, et de la cognoissance d'icelles, contenant la maniere d'affranchir et appriuoiser les arbres sauuages.

The first work on agriculture written in French. As an apothecary, Belon was especially interested in the pharmaceutical value of plants. Having learned about them on his travels, he introduced numerous foreign plants…

1565

#11490

De omni rerum fossilium genere, gemmis, lapidibus, metallis, et huiusmodi, libri aliquote, plerique nunc primum editi.

A collection of eight separate tracts, most with their own title page, by seven authors, all edited, and some with commentary by Gesner. The work is relevant for the history of "natural history" for containing Kentman…

1565

#13792

De vini natura, artificio et usu deque re omni potabili.

On the medical sues of wine. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1571

#1986.2

De thermis …libri septem. Opus ... in quo agitur de universa aquarum natura, deque differentiis omnibus, ac mistionibus cum terris, cum ignibus, cum metallis, de lacubus, fontibus, fluminibus, de balneis totius orbis, & de methodo medendi per balneas, deque lavationum simul atque exercitationum institutis in admirandis thermis Romanorum....

A comprehensive study of mineral waters, dealing with all the spas of the then-known world. Besides exhaustive coverage of the baths of antiquity and of Bacci’s own time, the work gives considerable attention to wines…

1584

#7555

De reconditis et praecipuis collectaneis ab honestissimo et solertissimo Francisco Calceolario Veronensi in Musaeo adservatis, Joannis Baptistae Olivi medici testificatio.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1596

#7117

Reliqua librorum Friderici II. Imperatoris, De arte venandi cum avibus, cum Manfredi Regis additionibus. Ex membranis vetustis nunc primum edita. Albertus Magnus De falconibus, asturibus, & accipitribus.

Books I-II of De arte venandi cum avibus, edited by Marcus Welser from a very old, incomplete defective manuscript, which lacked Books III-IV. More than a dissertation on hunting, this work is considered the first zoo…

1596

#7968

De naturali vinorum historia de vinis Italiae et de conviviis antiquorum libri septem....Accessit de factitiis ac cervisiis de q[ue] Rheni, Galliae, Hispaniae et de totius Europa vinis et de omni vinorum usu compendiaria tractatio.

A comprensive study of the production, storage, characteristics, and use of wines. Book two considers wine in relation to health. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1599 –1667

#290

Opera omnia. 13 vols.

Aldrovandi, first director of the botanical garden at Bologna, was a prolific writer. Some of his writings made their first appearance in print after his death. He designed them as a whole to form an enormous illustra…

1599

#7553

Dell'historia naturale di Ferrante Imperato napolitano Libri XXVIII. Nella quale ordinatamente si tratta della diversa condition di miniere, e pietre. Con alcune historie di piante et animali; sin hora non date in luce.

The famous illustration of Imperato's museum or "cabinet of curiosities" published in this work was the first pictorial representation of the natural history research collection formed by Renaissance humanist". The co…

1609

#11505

Le iardin, et cabinet poetique de Paul Contant, apoticaire de Poictiers.

Written in verse, this is the first catalogue of a private botanical garden published in France, and the first book that could be called a French catalogue of a natural history museum. Digital facsimile from the Inter…

1613

#9512

Hortus Eystettensis: Sive, diligens et accurata omnium plantarum, florum, stirpium, ex variis orbis terrae partibus, singulari studio collectarum, quae in celeberrimis viridariis arcem episcopalem ibidem cingentibus, hoc tempore conspiciuntur, delineatio et aduiuum repræsentatio.

"The Hortus Eystettensis is itself a ‘paper museum’, a pictorial record of the flowers grown in the greatest German garden of its time, that of the Prince Bishop of Eichstätt, Johann Conrad von Gemmingen. As part of a…

1615

#1820.1

Quatro libros. De la naturaleza, y virtudes de las plantas, y animales que estan receuidos en el vso de medicina en la Nueua España, y la methodo, y correccion, y preparacion, que para administrallas se requiere con lo que el doctor Francisco Hernandez escriuio en lengua latina. : Muy vtil para todo genero de gente q[ue] viue en esta[n]cias y pueblos, de no ay medicos, ni botica.Traduzido, y aumentados muchos simples, y compuestos y otros muchos secretos curatiuos, por Fr. Francisco Ximenes....

Physician to Philip II of Spain, Hernández travelled to Mexico by order of the king, and studied the natural history of the region from 1570-77. His Works, which filled six folio volumes of text and 10 volumes of pain…

1616 –1622

#11498

Fasciculus rariorum et aspectu dignorum varii generis quae collegit et suis impensis aeri ad vivum incidi curavit atque evulgavit.

Besler was the first to illustrate a natural history Wunderkammer in Germany. The engraved frontispiece of this work, which Besler published himself, depicts Besler exhibiting the contents to a visitor. The first edit…

1618

#9052

Sitio, naturaleza y propriedades de la Ciudad de Mexico: Aguas y vientos a que esta suieta, y tiempos del año. Necessidad de su conocimiento para el exercicio de la medicina, su incertidumbre y difficultad sin el de la astrologia assi para la curacion como para los prognosticos.

The first book printed in Mexico with engraved illustrations.

1622

#7554

Musaeum Franc. Calceolari Jun. Veronensis, a Benedicto Ceruto, medico, inceptum, et ab Andrea Chiocco, med. physico, descriptum et perfectum.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1622

#7574

Continuatio rariorum et aspectu dignorum varii generis quae collegit et suis impensis aeri ad vivum indici curavit atque evulgavit....

This was the second edition, with 7 additional plates, of the privately printed catalogue of the natural history collection or museum of the Nuremberg botanist Basilius Besler, author of Hortus Eystettensis (1613). Th…

1628

#1821.1

Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus, seu, Plantarum animalium mineralium Mexicanorum historia.

This summary of Hemández’s very extensive manuscript account of the natural history of Mexico (see No. 1820.1) was edited by N.A. de Recchi, and published at the expense of Prince Federico Cesi (1585-1630), with notes…

1628

#11499

Les oeuvres de Jacques et Paul Contant pere et fils maistres apoticaires de la ville de Poictiers. Divisées en cinq traictez. 1. Les commentaires sur Dioscoride. 2. Le second Eden. 3. Exagoge mirabilium naturae e gazophylacio. 4. Synopsis plantarum cum ethymologiis. 5. Le jardin & cabinet poëtique ....

Jacques and Paul Contant were Huguenot apothecaries in Poitiers, and notable collectors. There were among the first in France to assemble a cabinet of curiosities or Wunderkammer. The first work, a commentary on Diosc…

1632

#287

Thaumatographia naturalis, in decem classes distincta, in quibus admiranda 1 Coeli. 2 Elementorum. 3 Meteororum. 4 Fossilium. 5 Plantarum. 6 Avium. 7 Quadrupedum. 8 Exanguium. 9 Piscium. 10 Hominis.

A unillustrated pocket guide, issued in duodecimo format on "admiranda" or wonders of nature organized in ten categories (heaven, earth, and topics relating to meteors, fossils or minerals, plants, birds, quadrupeds, …

1648

#2263.1

Historia naturalis Brasiliae.

Piso's study of the natural history of Brazil was also a pioneer work on tropical medicine, and also the largest work from the standpoint of format published by the Elzeviers. The folio includes De medicina brasiliens…

1648

#7557

Musaeum metallicum in libros IIII distributum Bartholomaeus Ambrosinus ... labore, et studio composuit cum indice copiosissimo.

Digital facsimile from the University of Bologna at this link.

1650 –1653

#11704

Historia naturalis. 6 vols: Historiae naturalis de quadrupedibus; Historiae naturalis de avibus; Historiae naturalis de piscibus et cetis; Historiae naturalis de exanguibus aquaticis; Historiae naturalis de insectis, de serpentibus et draconbius; Historiae naturalis de serpentibus.

The first 5 volumes were published in 1650; the last volume was published in 1653. This work, published in small folio format, includes 249 engraved plates and six elegant engraved title pages (4 resembling frontispie…

1650 –1653

#13025

Historiae naturalis de quadrupetibus libri: Cum aeneis figuris; [Historiae naturalis de serpentibus libri II; Historiae naturalis de insectis libri III; Historiae naturalis de exanguibus aquaticis libri IV; Historiae naturalis de piscibus et cetis libri V; Historiae naturalis de avibus libri VI].

This work, which was a major expansion and reworking of material that Jonston originally outlined in his Thaumatographia naturalis (1632), was both illustrated and published by Matthäus Merian. Digital facsimile from …

1652

#3737

Observationes medicae.

One of the earliest accounts of beri-beri is on pp. 300-05 of this work. Tulp, notable as the demonstrator in Rembrandt’s “Anatomy Lesson”, was among the first, in the same book, to describe the ileo-caecal valve (“Tu…