Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts: A Selection of 190 Sixteenth-Century Woodcuts from Gesner's and Topsell's Natural Histories

by Conrad Gessner, Edmund V. Gillon Jr. (Editor)

Reproductions of woodcuts accompanied by captions illustrate various species of animals from the perspective of 16th-century science

Genres: Art, History

111 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1971

About the author

Conrad Gessner (1516 - 1565) also rendered as Konrad and Gesner) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his talents and supported him through university, where he studied classical languages, theology and medicine. He became Zürich's city physician, but was able to spend much of his time on collecting, research and writing. Gessner compiled monumental works on bibliography (Bibliotheca universalis 1545–1549) and zoology (Historia animalium 1551–1558) and was working on a major botanical text at the time of his death from plague at the age of 49. He is regarded as the father of modern scientific bibliography, zoology and botany. He was frequently the first to describe species of plants or animals in Europe, such as the tulip in 1559. A number of plants and animals have been named after him.

Reviews

[Pelks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a delight, especially because some of the depictions animals within are pretty accurate, whereas others are insane. I got it as art inspiration for my own drawings and it has served this purpose admirably, and in any case I'm definitely not just adding this picture book to my "read" shelf because I'm trying to make my end-of-year goal.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful work, but yikes, some of these creatures are scary! The birds were my favorite. Not frightening, just stunning. I also really enjoyed the rendition of the rhinoceros. So much detail! Fun for any animal lover or fantasy fanatic.

[Ami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Righteous!