1593 PLINY Elder Natural History Astronomy Magic Alchemy Miracles Gemology HUGE

1593 PLINY Elder Natural History Astronomy Magic Alchemy Miracles Gemology HUGE

 

“The only certainty is that nothing is certain”

– Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, book II

 

Pliny the Elder was one of the most important 1^st-century Roman authors who is remembered for his encyclopedic work ‘Naturalis Historia’ which would become the model for encyclopedias. ‘Natural History’ is oft thought to the be single largest work surviving the Roman Empire and covers a vast field of knowledge including astronomy, meteorology, geography, zoology, botany, agriculture, medicine, as well as magic, alchemy, and gemology.

 

Pliny also notes some miraculous events in this book including floating islands on Lake Vadimo and gives special attention to magic, declaring that magic originated out of medicine and should have flourished alongside the developments in medicine.

 

This particular tome is quite unique in that it contains the 1593 Sigismund Gelenius edition paired with the index of an earlier 1582 printing, with parts published in various locations – Heidelberg, Geneva, and Lyon. Nonetheless, this enormous vellum tome is an impressive and highly desirable 16^th-century printing of Pliny!

 

Item number: #21293

Price: $1500

 

PLINY the Elder

 

1. Plinii Secundi Historiae Mundi Libri XXXVII.

 

[Geneva: Jacob Stoer, 1593].

 

Details:

• Collation: Complete with all pages; 2 parts in 1 tome
  • “Historiae Mundi, Libri xxxvii” – [38], 679, [49]
    • “observations” – Heidelberg: Commelinus, 1593.
  • “Historiae naturalis” – [4], 168; 43
  • “Index copiosissimus” – [184]
    • Lugduni [i.e. Genève]: Petrum Santandreanum, 1582.
  • References: USTC 451396; USTC 665373
  • Language: Latin
  • Binding: Vellum; tight and secure
  • Size: ~15in X 10.25in (38cm x 26cm)

 

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21293