Beautiful woodcut, hand-colored and heightened with egg-white, of a sea monster with a human head and two carp fish from Gesner's 'Fischbuch'. Early German edition of the famous encyclopedia. Frankfurt, Saur, 1598. Dimensions: 34 x 22,5 cm. Conrad Gesner is considered the father of modern scientific bibliography, zoology, and botany. He was a Renaissance polymath, physician, philosopher, bibliographer, philologist, natural historian, and illustrator who devoted most of his time to collecting, researching, and writing. He compiled monumental works on bibliography (Bibliotheca universalis 1545–1549) and zoology (Historia Animalium 1551–1558). These woodcuts were published in the so-called 'Fischbuch', which was dedicated to fish and marine animals. Good condition, with old annotations.