“AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALL THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD”: FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF PLINY’S MONUMENTAL HISTORIE OF THE WORLD, 1601— OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN CULTURE

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Caius. The Historie of the World: Commonly called, the Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. Translated into English by Philemon Holland. London: Adam Islip, 1601. Two volumes bound in one. Thick folio (9 by 13 inches), period style full calf gilt, red morocco spine label, raised bands.

First edition in English, translated by Philemon Holland, of Pliny’s Natural History—“of exceptional importance in the tradition and diffusion of Western culture”— beautifully printed with engraved emblems on title pages, and engraved initials and borders throughout.

“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… It comprises 37 books with mathematics and physics, geography and astronomy, medicine and zoology, anthropology and physiology, philosophy and history, agriculture and mineralogy, the arts and letters… The Historia soon became a standard book of reference; abstracts and abridgements appeared by the third century… One of the earliest books to be printed at Venice, the centre 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)… Over and over again it will be found that the source of some ancient piece of knowledge is Pliny” (PMM 5). “Pliny’s series of digressions on painting, sculpture in bronze, and sculpture in marble, has provided art historians with what amounts to the earliest surviving history of art… As a purveyor of information both scientific and nonscientific, Pliny holds a place of exceptional importance in the tradition and diffusion of Western culture” (DSB). Pliny discusses such diverse subjects as “Why the sea is salt,” “Meremaides,” “How Starrie skies presage future weather,” “Soules—whether immortal,” “Women with a double apple in their eye—witches,” wines, skin care, swimming, herbal medicines, plants and trees, birds and beasts, and aphrodisiacs (“if the seed of that Mallow that runneth up in one stalke; bee reduced into powder and strewed upon that part of a woman which Nature hath hidden, shee will bee so wood after the companie of a man, as she will never be satisfied nor contented with embracing”). Most of Holland’s translations were issued in heavy folios such as this, leading Pope to describe the “groaning shelves” bending under the weight of Holland’s works. With engraved emblems on each title page, engraved ornamental intials, head- and tailpieces. STC 20029.5. Pforzheimer 496. Brueggemann, 670. Lowndes, 1885. Occasional early marginalia.

First few leaves remargined, expert repairs to tears on title page, small holes to leaves Bb5-6 of Volume I, affecting letters but not the sense of the text; last five leaves of Index and Errata leaf of Volume II with expert paper repairs, occasionally affecting text. Beautifully bound, an excellent copy of this massive and fascinating classic.