De quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis libri tres et de quadrupedibus digitatis oviparis libri duo... 

Apud Nicolaum Tebaldinum,Bolognia 1645.

Folio (357 x 232mm). Two parts in one vol; pp. [8], 718 [ie 716], [16]. Allegorical title page with coat of arms, 2nd printed title-page, with over 130 woodcut illustrations in the text, some full page, full vellum with handwritten titles on the spine, hinges cracked but firm and some wear to spine, small hole repaired on title without loss of text, a very attractive, clean crisp copy of this fourth edition of a rare work.

Aldrovandi (1522-1605), the great Bolognan naturalist, was inspired to study natural history by meeting Guillaume Rondelet in Rome, where Aldrovandi was obliged to go to defend himself against charges of heresy. ‘Rondelet was then gathering material for his work on fishes. Aldrovandi, who accompanied the French physician to fish markets in order to study the various species, finally decided to study natural history, and began collecting specimens for his own museum. He was the creator and first director of the botanic gardens of the University of Bologna, in which was placed his library and natural history museum, one of the earliest of its kind. He is credited with having ‘formed one of the first herbaria as we know them today. His was an outstanding zoological and botanical intelligence, and it was unfortunate that he died before much of his work was published’ (Hunt catalogue).
‘Although Aldrovandi is not identified with any revolutionary discoveries, his work as a teacher and as the author of volumes that constitute an irreplaceable cultural patrimony earns him a place among the fathers of modern science. Perhaps most importantly, he was among the first to attempt to free the natural sciences from the stifling influence of the authority of textbooks, for which he substituted, as far as possible, direct study and observation of the animal, vegetable, and mineral worlds’ (DSB).

The woodcuts of Aldrovandi exercised a great influence on succeeding illustrators of zoological texts well into the late eighteenth century.

Provenance: early manuscript inscription Bibliotec. Ferrariae on reverse of title-page.