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…

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 …

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

#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…

1479

#17

Opera. In four parts dated: I) 15 Sept. 1479; II) 13 Oct. 1479; III) 21 Oct. 1479; IV) 8 Nov. 1479. Contents: [I] Praedicamenta, De interpretatione, Analytica priora (Tr: Boethius). Add: Porphyrius: Isagoge in Aristotelis Praedicamenta (Tr: Boethius). Gilbertus Porretanus: Liber sex principiorum. Boethius: Divisiones. [II] Analytica posteriora (Tr: Jacobus Veneticus). [III] Sophistici elenchi, Topica (Tr: Boethius). [IV] Physica (Tr: Guilelmus de Moerbeka).

Aristotle, at one time tutor to Alexander the Great, was, among other things, the first observational biologist, and the founder of comparative anatomy. His views had a profound influence in determining the direction …

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 …

1483

#9399

Opera. With the commentary of Averroes. Edited by Nicoletus Vernia. 8 parts.

First edition of the collected works of Aristotle with the commentaries of Averroes, by which Aristotle was mainly studied during the Middle Ages. The purpose of Vernia's edition was to provide an accurate edition of …

1484

#1795

Herbarius latinus.

The first herbal printed in Germany, and the prototype for most of the herbals printed during the remainder of the 15th century. It also contains some fanciful pictures of animals. With text in Latin and with German s…

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…

1491

#6314

Versehung des Leibs.

Written in 1429, this didactic poem is the first known text to be devoted to the normal physiology and common illnesses of children. It was written in old Swabian, and its author was a monk. The poem was probably inte…

1493 –1494

#363.1

Fascicolo di medicina. Tr: Sebastianus Manilius. Add: Petrus de Tussignano: Consilium pro peste evitanda. Mundinus: Anatomia (Ed: Petrus Andreas Morsianus).

This Italian translation contains an entirely new and more extensive series of woodcuts and additional text. The dramatically improved and more realistic illustrations, which were reproduced in the numerous later edit…

1495 –1498

#8395

Aristotle. [Opera omnia]. 5 vols.

Between November 1495 and June 1498 scholar printer Aldus Manutius (Teobaldo Mannucci) of Venice issued the first edition in the original Greek of Aristotle's Opera omnia. The set appeared in five thick quarto or smal…

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…

1521

#367

Commentaria cum amplissimis additionibus super anatomia Mundini una cum textu ejusdem in pristinum et verum nitorem redacto.

Giacomo Berengario da Carpi (Jacobus Berengarius Carpensis, Jacopo Barigazzi, Giacomo Berengario da Carpi or simply Carpus) introduced iconography and independent anatomical observation into the teaching of anatomy. H…

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…

1525

#12773

Opuscula nuper in lucem aedita quorum nomina proxima habentur pagella.

Thomaeus's commentary on Aristotle's Mechanica includes an explanation of the action of a dental forceps illustrated with two small woodcut illustrations on page XXXXI. This was the first printed dental illustration. …

1528

#149

Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion.

Written, designed, and illustrated by Dürer, this work is notable for its extraordinary series of anthropometrical woodcuts. The first two books deal with the proper proportions of the human form; the third changes th…

1530

#2364

Syphilis sive morbus gallicus.

The most famous of all medical poems. It epitomized contemporary knowledge of syphilis, gave to it its present name, and recognized a venereal cause. Fracastorius refers to mercury as a remedy. First complete English …

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 …

1538

#372

Tabulae anatomicae sex.

Vesalius’ first anatomical publication, consisting of six oversized anatomical charts, resembling fugitive sheets. The three skeletal woodcuts are signed by the artist, Jan Stephan van Calcar, who also acted as the pu…

1538

#6969

Simeonis Sethi, magistri Antiochiae, Syntagma per literarum ordinem de cibariorum facultate, Lilio Gregorio Gyraldo,... interprete.

First printed edition of Seth's Byzantine encyclopedia of foods, nutrition, and diatetics from plants and animals, with Greek text and Latin translation by scholar and poet Giglio Gregorio Giraldi. Simeon Seth was an …

1541

#373

Musculorum humani corporis picturata dissectio.

The first book in which each muscle was illustrated separately, with copper-plates of the bones and muscles of the upper limb from drawings by Girolamo da Carpi, which in realism and exactitude surpassed anything betw…

1541

#373.1

Des aller fürtrefflichsten…erschaffen. Das is des menchen…warhafftige beschreibung oder Anatomi…

This plagiarism of Vesalius’s Tabulae anatomicae sex contains 25 woodcuts by Hans Baldung Grien (1484/1485-1545), and represents the artist’s only contribution to medical illustration. The woodcuts include the best il…

1543

#376

Suorum de humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome.

Shortly after publishing his encyclopedic De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, Vesalius issued De humani corporis fabrica epitome, also from the press of Johannes Oporinus of Basel. This thin set of 14 unnumbered …

1543

#375

De humani corporis fabrica libri septem.

Published when the author was only 29 years old, the Fabrica revolutionized not only the science of anatomy but how it was taught. Throughout this encylopedic work on the structure and workings of the human body, Vesa…

1544

#4406.1

Chirurgia e graeco in latinum conversa.

This elegantly printed and illustrated small folio included 210 text woodcuts, most probably after drawings by the school of Francesco Salviati (Francesco de'Rossi). It was issued from the press operated by Pierre Gau…

1544

#277

Avium praecipuarum, quarum apud Plinium et Aristotelem mentio est, brevis et succincta historia.

The first book on birds with clear descriptions of the appearance of individual birds based on the author’s own experiences and observations. Turner attempted to determine those birds named by Aristotle and Pliny; he …

1545

#376.1

Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio, aere exarata.

Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio by Belgian engraver, mathematical and surgical instrument maker, Thomas Geminus (Thomas Lambert or Lambrit) was a slightly abridged version of Vesalius's Epitome illustrated with…

1545

#378

De dissectione partium corporis humani.

De dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres by French physician, writer, and translator, Charles Estienne, of the Estienne printing dynasty, is one of the most interesting woodcut books of the French Renaissance…

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.

1551 –1587

#280

Historia animalium. 5 vols.

Gesner's Historia animalium is considered one of the starting points of modern zoology; it contains 4,500 pages and nearly 1,000 woodcuts, some by Albrecht Dürer. The illustrations are the first original zoological il…

1552

#281

De differentiis animalium.

Basing his work on Aristotle, Wotton rejected the fantastic additions which had accrued to the writings of the latter during the Middle Ages. His book was beautifully printed but not illustrated. Digital facsimile fro…

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.

1554 –1555

#282

Libri de piscibus marinis, in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae sunt. (Universae aquatilium pars altera.) 2 vols.

Rondelet wrote this book with the idea of verifying Aristotle, but in it he described many forms of fishes for the first time. The book is an accurate account of his investigation of Mediterranean fishes and marine an…

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

#377

De humani corporis fabrica libri septem.

Containing Vesalius’s final published revisions of the text, this edition is also superior for its enlarged format, improved typography and printing, better paper, larger woodcut initials, and changes to the lettering…

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

#378.02

Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano…

Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano Spanish physician Juan Valverde de Amusco was issued in Rome at the press of Antonio Salamanca. This was the first great original medical book in Spanish and the most origi…

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…

1559

#378.1

De re anatomica libri xv.

Colombo was a pupil of Vesalius, and succeeded him in the chair of anatomy at Padua before proceeding to chairs first at Pisa and later at Rome. His book, published just after his death, rectified a number of anatomic…

1559

#7240

Michaelis Ephesii scholia, idest, brevis sed erudita atque utilis interpretatio in IIII. libros Aristotelis De Partibus Animalium. Dominico Monthesauro Veronensi interprete. Nunc primmùm [sic.] in lucem edita.

Michael of Ephesus, who completed his commentaries in or after 1138, was one of the principal Aristotelian scholars in a group organized in Constantinople by the Empress Anna Komnena. His commentary was translated int…

1570

#9203

De canibus Britannicis liber unus. De rariorum animalium et stirpium historia, liber unus. De libris propriis, liber unus.

Caius, a pioneer naturalist as well as a physician, corresponded with Conrad Gessner, with whom he had made friends while returning from Padua. Caius wrote this study of British dogs to send to Gessner as a contributi…

1575

#4964

Examen de ingenios para las ciencias.

Huarte was a distinguished Spanish physician and psychologist. His Examen, which gained for him a European reputation, was the first attempt to show the connection between psychology and physiology. English translatio…

1578

#1819

Tractado de las drogas, y medicinas de las Indias Orientales, con sus plantas debuxadas al bivo.

This is mainly a translation of Garcia d’Orta’s Coloquios (No. 1815) with the addition of some illustrations. Acosta, a Portuguese Jesuit physician and surgeon, travelled to India where he met Garcia d’Orta. Acosta pi…

1590

#2244

Historia natural y moral de las Indias.

One of the earliest detailed and realistic descriptions of the New World. Acosta hypothesized that the indigenous peoples of Latin America had migrated from Asia. He also divided the native peoples into three barbaria…

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…

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…