ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605)

Lot 90
09.07.2025 10:30UTC +01:00
Classic
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£ 3 780
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1450467
Lot 90 | ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605)
Estimate value
£ 4 000 – 6 000
ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605)
De piscibus libri V et de cetis lib unus. Bologna: Baptista Bellagamba, 1613 [colophon dated 1612].
First edition of the most celebrated of early illustrated fish books. Its author met the French physician Guillaume Rondelet in 1545 and accompanied him to the fish markets in order to study the various species. The monumental De piscibus, published after Aldrovandi’s death, contains nearly 400 woodcut illustrations of fishes and whales, many based on direct observation, though some were copied from important earlier works by Gesner and Rondelet, and Aldrovandi also included depictions of fantastical monsters such as the ‘sea monkey’ (p.406) and the ‘centipede whale’ (p.721). A significant influence on later works such as Walton's Compleat Angler and naturalists such as Linnaeus and Buffon, De piscibus proved overwhelmingly popular and was reprinted nine times before the middle of the 17th century. DSB pp. 108-110; Nissen ZBI 70.

Folio (361 x 240mm). Engraved title, c.400 woodcut illustrations including many full-page (mostly marginal worming heavier at beginning and end, repair with small loss to corner of D3, repaired wormtrack beginning in upper margin and extending into text from 3O3 to end). Contemporary blindstamped pigskin, the upper board with a portrait of Duke Ludwig of Braunschweig and with arms to the lower board, clasps, title in manuscript on upper spine, edges red (slightly soiled and with minor loss of leather to corners and spine ends, some worm holes, endpapers renewed). Provenance: ink inscription erased from title with minor loss – another excised from colophon with repair to verso – W. Senn-Dürck, Basel-Riehen (1904-2001; booklabel); by descent.
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