BELON, Pierre. - Les Observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables, trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Iudée, Egypte, Arabie, & autre pays estranges... - Paris, Cavellat, (Colophon:) Imprimé a Paris par B. Prevost... pour Corrozet & Cavellat Libraires, 20 May, 1553.
3 parts in 1 vol. 4to. Contemp. leather, rubbed, top of spine worn, but firm. Printer's device on titles and 35 text woodcuts: plants, animals and 2 views, one of the Hellespontus (i.e. the strait of the Dardanelles), and one of Alexandria in Egypt. (12), 210, (2) ff.; title with ms. name of an early owner and a small repair to the upper blank margin, occasional discoloration of the paper and some light spots.
Rare first edition. «Belon can be considered the originator of comparative anatomy... (he) enriched the biological sciences by new observations and contributed greatly to the progress of the natural sciences in the 16th century. His learning was not derived solely from books. He was one of the first explorer-naturalists; and between 1546 and 1550 he undertook long voyages through Greece, Asia, Judaea, Egypt, Arabia and other foreign countries. He passed through Constantinople, and in Rome he met the zoologists Rondelet and Salviani... Belon was also a talented botanist and recorded... for the first time several plants of the Near East...» (DSB I, p. 596). There are also descriptions of mineral resources, customs, antiquities, topography, etc. Brunet I, 762. Cf. Wellcome 759 (later edns.). UCBA I, 93. Nissen ZBI 304.
Euro7500
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