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Naturalis Historia by Pliny the Elder, Paris, 1526, Very Scarce Early Edition
Baltimore, MD
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Naturalis Historia, Pliny the Elder, Paris, France, 1526. Text in Latin. Large volume - approximately 12.5 x 8.0 inches. Engraved …
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Naturalis Historia, Pliny the Elder, Paris, France, 1526. Text in Latin. Large volume - approximately 12.5 x 8.0 inches. Engraved title-x-[18]-536-[1 bl.]-[188] pp. This book is in very good condition. The boards are well attached and wrapped in leather. The spine head- and tail-caps were repaired at some point in the past. Most pages are in very good condition, but some sections have water stains at the bottom of the pages. The stains mostly come only a short distance onto the page, but some have it rising almost one quarter into the page. (I have photographed the worst of it – see photos.) The leather covers have some stains and scuffs but are overall in good condition. In the center of each cover is a gold-gilt supra libros with the inscription “COLLEGIUM VITRIACENSE.” Inside front cover has small library stamp from Jean Clavreuil in Paris. (See photos.) It is in very good condition considering that it is approaching 500 years old.
Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) was a Roman scholar, author, naturalist, and natural philosopher who lived in the First Century AD (CE). He was educated in literature, oratory, and law at a young age and then entered military service where he eventually became a commander. He worked under the reign of several Roman emperors including Nero, Vespasian, and Titus. He was a prolific writer being the author of at least 75 books on a wide variety of subjects.
His last and most famous work was Naturalis Historia (Natural History) published in 77 AD. It consisted of 37 books in ten volumes that pulled together all that was known about the natural world at the time. In Book One he cited the authors of all his sources which totaled almost 4,000. Subjects include the arts, astronomy, agriculture, botany, ethnography, geography, mathematics, medicine, metallurgy, mineralogy, pharmacology, physiology, and zoology. It is one of the largest works to have survived from the Roman Empire.
Of course, Pliny wrote his Naturalis Historia by hand. From there, additional copies were also done by hand until the invention of the printing press. There are about 200 hand-written manuscripts still around today. If one of these came up for auction, it would fetch millions of dollars. But it is highly unlikely you will see one available in your lifetime.
Naturalis Historia was one of the first ancient works to be printed in the Western world. Johannes Gutenburg introduced the printing press to the Holy Roman Empire around 1440. The first printed edition of Naturalis Historia was in Venice in 1469. A copy of the first edition would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
This edition was printed in Paris, France in 1526 – the first and only Paris edition. It is bound in leather with five raised bands on the spine. The covers are bordered by gilt fillets with floral ornaments in the corners, and in the center of each cover is a gold-gilt supra libros with the inscription “COLLEGIUM VITRIACENSE.” It contains comments by the Italian humanist Hermolao Barbaro (1454-1493). Barbaro was an Italian Renaissance scholar who published Castigationes Plinianae in 1492. This publication was a discussion of Pliny’s Naturalis Historia where he made over 5,000 corrections to the text.
One former owner of this copy was Renate Lagogue de Saint Croix. He was the principal of the college at Vitry (thus, the inscription “COLLEGIUM VITRIACENSE.”) There are some contemporary notes in old ink in the outer margins.
This is a very scarce edition of Pliny’s Naturalis Historia in very good condition. And it will be 500 years old in only 2 years.
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- Dimensions
- 8ʺW × 3ʺD × 13ʺH
- Styles
- Traditional
- Period
- 16th Century
- Country of Origin
- France
- Item Type
- Vintage, Antique or Pre-owned
- Materials
- Leather
- Paper
- Condition
- Good Condition, Restored, Some Imperfections
- Color
- Chestnut
- Condition Notes
- This book is in very good condition considering it is almost 500 years old. It has been rebacked with the … moreThis book is in very good condition considering it is almost 500 years old. It has been rebacked with the original leather. Some damp staining occurs on some pages in the lower edges of the book. less
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