Document - Conrad Gessner (Zurigo, 26 marzo 1516 – Zurigo, 13 dicembre 1565). - Von der Fledermauß/oder Speckmauß" (Sul pipistrello / o "topo del lardo") - 1555

This page comes from the famous Renaissance natural history treatise Historiae Animalium (Vol. 3: De Avibus), written by the Swiss physician and naturalist Conrad Gessner and published in Zurich from 1555 onward. The specific volume shown in the image corresponds to its later German translation, known as Vogelbuch.

The work is considered the milestone of modern zoology. Within it, influenced by Aristotelian classification criteria related to movement and habitat, Gessner initially placed the bat within the section dedicated to birds (De Avibus) rather than among mammals

• Von der Fledermauß/oder Speckmauß" (On the bat / or "fat mouse"), followed by the classical Latin designation Vespertilio.

• The illustration: It is a famous woodcut of the period, printed directly together with the movable type in Gothic style.

• Historical content: The text mentions several classical and erudite authors from antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the visible paragraph under the bat, it indeed cites "Hieronymo Trago" (the renowned German botanist Hieronymus Bock), discussing popular beliefs and the bizarre anatomical and behavioral observations about the bat being a "half-animal" (hybrid) between a mouse and a bird