Plinius - Historiae Naturalis - 1507

Gaius Plinius Secundus

Natural History in 37 books
Venice - 1507 - (16 January)
Ioannes Rubeus & Bernardinus, Vercelli brothers

(16), 280 [i.e. 279], (11)c.
aa-bb8 a-z8 &8 A-L8 M10

In folio - 31 x 21 cm. -
Roman type.

CELEBRATED TREATISE OF PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY IN 37 BOOKS IN THE RARE VESSEL VENEZIAN POST-INCUNABULA EDITION OF 1507.

37 books thus divided:

Cosmology-Geography -
Anthropology-Ethnology-Zoology-
Botany-Agriculture-
Medicine-Pharmacology-
Nature of metals-Metallurgy-
Painters-History of the Arts-
Nature of stones-Origin of gems-Magic-

In his great encyclopedia, being the first comprehensive survey of the natural sciences and the arts, Pliny set forth, according to his calculations, 20,000 topics gathered from 2,000 different works, all scrupulously cited in his extraordinarily thorough indexes.

First edition of the adaptation edited by Alessandro Benedetti (1450/1512), philologist and humanist, with printing by Fratelli Rosso.
GRAESSE VI 338
NML/DURLING 3686
STC 526
SCHWEIGER II 784

“This edition was prepared according to manuscript sources and with particular attention to Dioscorides and Hermolus Barbarus; very important as it was edited by Alexander Benedictus, a physician who rendered exceptional services to the science of medicine”
(Cf Choulant, Handb. p. 189).

Together with Vitruvius’ De Architectura, this work is one of the few surviving testimonies of the flourishing of art criticism and the historical study of art in Roman times.

Beautiful and sturdy eighteenth-century binding in full stiff vellum, with a spine with five raised bands bearing a red morocco inlay, with author and title gilt.
Slight warping of the boards that tend to open (see photo).

Leaves generally well preserved, with fairly fresh pages.
There are, however, slight browning, spots and marginal stains, more pronounced on the first and last leaves of the text.
Wear to the first 4/5 leaves of the text, including the title page, with marginal traces of dirt.
Hundreds of woodcut initials, some of which, splendid, of large size (from 4 to 12 lines).
Woodcut inscription on half a page at aa3r.
Stain on page 80 (K8- see photo).
Other small stains on page 182 (z6).
Small marginal tear on page 154 (u2).
Small hole on page 279 (L6).
Ancient manuscript ex-libris on the title page, as well as some marginal notes and manicule in the text.
Colophon on L7v.
Edges lightly sprinkled with minium.
Eighteenth-century flyleaves.

BOUND. COMPLETE