Plinius - Historiae Naturalis - 1507

Plinius Secundus Gaius

Historiae Naturalis libri XXXVII

Venezia - 1507 - (XVI Ianuari)
Ioannem Rubeum & Bernardinum fratresque Vercellenses

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

In folio - 31 X 21 cm. -
Caratteri romani.

CELEBRATED TREATISE OF PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY IN 37 BOOKS IN THE RARE VENERABLE VENERATE EDITION FROM VENICE 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 encyclopaedia, being the first complete survey of the natural sciences and the arts, Pliny exposed, according to his calculations,
20000 topics gathered from 2000 different works, all scrupulously cited in his extraordinarily thorough indices.

First edition of the adaptation prepared 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 has been prepared according to manuscripts and with particular attention to Dioscorides and Hermolus Barbarus; very important as it was prepared by Alexander Benedictus, a physician who rendered exceptional services to medical science”
(Cf Choulant, Handb. p. 189).

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

Beautiful and sturdy seventeenth-century full parchment binding, with five raised bands on the spine bearing a red morocco label, gold author and title.
Light buckling of the boards that tend to opening (see photo).

Leaves generally well preserved, with fairly fresh pages.
However there are slight browning, stains and marginal wear, more pronounced on the first and last leaves of the text.
Con punctures on the first 4/5 leaves of the text, including the frontispiece, with marginal traces of dirt.
Hundreds of wood-engraved initials, some splendid, of large size (from 4 to 12 lines).
Wood-engraved inscription on half-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 frontispiece, in addition to some marginal notes and marginal hands in the text.
Colophon at L7v.
Edges lightly sprinkled with minium.
Seventeenth-century fly leaves.

BOUND. COMPLETE