Rare and attractive leaf with 6 beautifully hand-coloured woodcuts from one of the most famous Renaissance books on prodigies and extraordinary natural phenomena printed in Basel 1557. These early woodcuts depict a variety of prodigies and omens recorded in antiquity. The recto shows a city struck by a violent earthquake or natural catastrophe, accompanied by celestial signs and a fantastical beast, while the verso presents a series of monstrous creatures, including a rooster-like hybrid, a two-headed sheep, and a human-faced animal. Such extraordinary births, hybrid creatures, and natural disasters were interpreted during the Renaissance as warnings of impending political, military, or social upheaval. The leaf originates from the celebrated Renaissance chronicle of wonders by Conrad Lycosthenes, Prodigiorum ac Ostentorum Chronicon (Basel, 1557) and draws on classical and medieval sources of its time such as Sebastian Münster, Conrad Gesner, Cardano and Paracelsus. The work reflects the Renaissance fascination with unusual natural phenomena, monsters, mythical creatures and other marvels of nature at the crossroads of early science, astrology and natural history. Dimensions: 26,5 x 18,8 cm Good condition, small wormhole in white margin. Attention to US buyers: due to new regulations we only ship with DHL or UPS to the US, therefore higher shipping costs apply!