AQUATILIUM ANIMALIUM HISTORIAE

Very rare first issue of first edition. Nearly 100 illustrations of marine life. 1558. AQUATILIUM ANIMALIUM HISTORIAE, liber primus, cum eorundem formis, aere excuses  Romae: (Salvianus), M.D.L.IIII (1554-1558). Folio: 41.0 x 28.0 cm., 1-257 p.p. (last leaf misnumbered 257, should be 255).  Features a copperplate engraved title-page with a medallion portrait of Salviani in an elaborate scrollwork frame decorated with shells, turtles, mermaids, and putti. Though dedicated to Pope Paul IV, the title page bears the coat of arms of Cardinal Marcello Cervini (a unicorn under a cardinal’s hat with tassels), who contributed financially and logistically. This coat of arms includes added elements: six small French lilies, a child’s face, and a crucifix.  The work includes 81 full-page copper engravings depicting 98 illustrations of fish and cephalopods (numbered 1-53 and 55-99, omitting 54). Thirty-seven engravings feature blank versos. Engravings on ff. 112, 130, 149, and 206 (sturgeon, tope, skate, and trigger-fish) bear letterpress correction slips pasted over the captions. Historiated initials throughout. The front flyleaf bears a French lily watermark; four other pages contain unidentified ecclesial watermarks. Bound in contemporary calf, skillfully rebacked. Exceptionally clean copy, with minor, long-ago repaired tears not affecting text or images. A superb, complete copy.  Salviani’s Aquatilium animalium historiae is the first fish iconography illustrated with copperplate engravings, printed on Salviani’s private press. Most contemporaries used cheaper woodcuts. The title-page and several images are attributed to Nicolas Beatricetto, with engraving generally credited to Antonio Lafrery. Salviani likely commissioned sketches of Italian fishes from B. Aretinus based on fresh Roman market specimens. Beatricetto then developed the final drawings using these sketches and sources from A. Masius, L. Ghini, and D. Barbatus. Illustrations of foreign species (Germany, England, Greece) were likely obtained by Cardinal Cervini (later Pope Marcellus II) through international contacts.  As personal physician to Popes Julius III, Marcellus II, and Paul III, and professor of medicine at the Sapienza University (1551–1568), Salviani held high Vatican status. He secured his first printing privilege and stipend from Marcellus II in 1551. Production slowed after the Pope's death in 1555, but the work was completed in 1557 under a privilege from Pope Paul IV.  There are three issues of the first edition. The first 1557 issue lacks a colophon and features the word "FINIS" on page 257 of the Index Rerum. The second (October 1557) and third (January 1558) issues omit "FINIS", include colophons on folio 256 with an errata list (recto) and a woodcut printer’s device (verso), and contain three additional cancel slips on Pl. 45 (dogfish), Pl. 46 (nursehound), and f. 194 (tub gurnard).  The text opens with a double-page table spanning 56 leaves, classifying species with their Greek, Latin, and Italian names. The second part consists of 92 chapters (3 on cephalopods, 89 on fish), each opening with an illustration and descriptions of habitat and anatomy. Salviani cites Aristotle, Pliny, and Galen for anatomy, and Athenaeus, Oppianus, and Giovio for gastronomy. Despite claims that Salviani only depicted observed animals, f. 57 features a mythical "Serpens marina" closely resembling Pierre Gourdelle’s illustration in Belon’s De Aquatilibus (1553). Furthermore, the scorpionfish on f. 197 strongly resembles a 1543 drawing commissioned by Conrad Gessner, suggesting the artist was inspired by external sources rather than direct observation. This book is part of a collection of illustrated rare fish books. You can contact the seller if you are interested in the collection. …