Adams, B-554; Nissen, FB, 13; Nissen, ZBI, 302; Renouard, Estienne, p. 104:6; Boudou-Kecskemeti, La France des Humanistes, p. 40-410.<\/i><\/p>\n
First edition of this lovely book illustrated with 187 woodcuts. The preface is by Charles Estienne.<\/span><\/p>\n Pierre Belon (1517-1564) began his career as an apothecary working for such important figures as Ren\u00e9 du Bellay, bishop of Le Mans, Guillaume du Prat, archbishop of Lyon and Fran\u00e7ois II de Tournon, which enabled him to devote himself to scientific research. After studying botany with Valerius Cordus in Wittenberg, in 1538 he took charge of the garden at the manor of Touvoie (Indre-et-Loire), considered to be one of the first botanical gardens in France.<\/p>\n Journey to the Levant<\/span><\/p>\n Belon was chosen to accompany the two ambassadors of Fran\u00e7ois I to Soliman I the Magnificent. During this journey, which can be classified as one of the first naturalist journeys in history, he travelled to the Levant from 1546 to 1549.<\/p>\n During this trip, the scientist gathered a great deal of scientific information on natural history, archaeology and the customs of the inhabitants. On his return to France in 1549, Belon began to write books containing his scientific research.<\/p>\n This fine edition, printed by Charles Estiennne, also contains a preface by this famous printer in which he praises the scientist: “Pierre Belon m’a montr\u00e9 les merveilles de la mer qu’il a rassembl\u00e9es sou forme d’images en Asie, en Afrique et en Europe. Je c\u00e8de \u00e0 son d\u00e9sir de partager son exp\u00e9rience avec tout le monde (freely translated from Latin by Boudou-Kecskemeti).<\/p>\n This charming small-format work by Belon on fish and other aquatic animals (including certain reptiles and amphibians) is the result of his personal observations during his travels in Europe. The captions to the 187 woodcut illustrations give the names in different languages and dialects, depending on the region of Europe where the fish and animals are found.<\/p>\n “Englobant tous les animaux marins dans le terme de ‘poisson’, il \u00e9tablit des principes de nomenclature et tente, mieux que Rondelet, un embryon de classification par des observations : cartilage ou squelette osseux, ovipare ou vivipare” (Boudou-Kecskemeti, p. 474).<\/p>\n There are also descriptions of some very rare species of Mediterranean fish, such as the gymnote, as well as some fantastic animals, including a spectacular fish looking like a monk.<\/p>\n Occasional small stains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Oblong 8vo (113 x 165 mm) 16 nn.ll. ff.n.ch., 448 pp. Contemporary flexible vellum (occasinoal stains).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":85246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[540],"product_tag":[1450,1350,3301],"class_list":{"0":"post-85267","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-natural-history","7":"product_tag-first-edition","8":"product_tag-fish-cetaceans","9":"product_tag-natural-science","10":"pa_auteur-belon-pierre-2","11":"pa_type-de-livre-printed-book","13":"first","14":"instock","15":"shipping-taxable","16":"purchasable","17":"product-type-simple"},"acf":{"artist":" Pierre BELON","chapeau":"Bound in contemporary flexible vellum","adresse_bibliographique":"Paris, Carolum Stephanum [Charles Estienne], 1553","book_type":"Printed book","provenance":"","afficher_prix":""},"yoast_head":"\n