THE HISTORIE OF THE WORLD: COMMONLY CALLED THE NATURALL HISTORIE OF C. PLINUS SECUNDUS, Translated into English by Philemon Holland, Doctor of Physicke

[Pliny]; Plinius Secundus (Caius); [Pliny the Elder; Holland, Phillemon (Translator]]

Edité par London Printed by Adam Islip and to be sold by John Grismond, in Ivy-lane and to be sold at the Signe of the Gun 1635 (1634), 1634

A propos de cet article

The first Tome. [The second Tome]. The second printing, with numerous corrections, of the first English translation. Printed by Adam Islip in 1634, the first volume contains the title-page dated 1635 which was offered for sale by John Grismond, the second volume retains the 1634 title-page. Elaborate woodcut printer's device to title, engraved floriated initials and fine head and tail pieces throughout. Folio in 6s, 2 vols., bound in one, an excellent copy bound in full contemporary polished calf in original state, the back with raised bands over cords, covers with double fillet rules in blind. [56], 614, [42]; [12], 632, [86]. Advertisement leaf at end of vol. II pp. Collated complete. An especially desirable copy of this highly important book. In its rare original state, this book is seldom encountered. The textblock is crisp and unpressed and remains in a very pleasing state of preservation, some minor evidence of damp in a few places as to be expected, the spine with expert restoration at the head and tail of the panel, a beautiful copy. IMPORTANT EARLY ISSUE OF THE GREAT TRANSLATION OF PLINY INTO ENGLISH BY PHILEMON HOLLAND. The second printing of the first full English translation of this important book. First published in Venice in 1469, "The Natural History" of Pliny the Elder is more than a natural history: it is an encyclopaedia of all the knowledge of the ancient world. .He was a compiler rather than an original thinker, and the importance of this book depends more on his exhaustive reading (he quotes over four hundred authorities, Greek and Latin) than on his original work. All the spare time allowed him by a busy administrative career was devoted to reading; he began long before daybreak, his nephew the younger Pliny recorded, and grudged every minute not spent in study; no book was so bad, he used to say, as not to contain something of value. When he died the 'Natural History' (the sole extant work out of one hundred and two volumes from his pen) was still incomplete. It comprises thirty-seven books dealing with mathematics and physics, geography and astronomy, medicine and zoology, anthropology and physiology, philosophy and history, agriculture and mineralogy, the arts and letters. He is scrupulous in his acknowledgment of his sources (you must, he wrote, with honest humility, declare those from whom you have profited), and the whole of the first book is devoted to the tables of contents and authorities which bear witness to his method. The HISTORIE soon became a standard book of reference: abstracts and abridgments appeared by the third century. Bede owned a copy, Alcuin sent the early books to Charlemagne, and Dicuil, the Irish geographer, quotes him in the ninth century. It was the basis of Isidorets Etymologiae and such medieval encyclopedias as the Speculum Majus of Vincent of Beauvais and the Catholicon of Balbus. One of the earliest books to be printed at Venice, the center from which so much of classical literature was first dispensed, it was later translated into English by Philemon Holland in 1601, and twice reprinted (a notable achievement for so vast a text). . More recently, scholars as various as Humboldt and Grimm have praised and acknowledged their debt to it. Over and over again it will be found that the source of some ancient piece of knowledge is Pliny. (PMM) The standard of reference for scholars since the 15th century, Holland s translation made it available to the English speaking world for the first time. Although not strictly scientific itself, mingling a good deal of the author's fancy with fact, Pliny's NATURALL HISTORIE was important in stimulating scientific thought in succeeding generations. "It is an encyclopedia of all the knowledge of the ancient world set out in an orderly fashion. It was the source of much medieval knowldege--and legend--and the model for such works as the SPECULUM MAJUS of Vincent of Beauvais. The high regard in which it was held in the world of the Renaissan.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: THE HISTORIE OF THE WORLD: COMMONLY CALLED THE NATURALL HISTORIE OF C. PLINUS SECUNDUS, Translated into English by Philemon Holland, Doctor of Physicke
• Éditeur: London Printed by Adam Islip and to be sold by John Grismond, in Ivy-lane and to be sold at the Signe of the Gun 1635 (1634), 1634