"AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALL THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD": FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF PLINY'S MONUMENTAL HISTORIE OF THE WORLD, 1601—FOUNDATIONAL IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN CULTURE AND AN IMPORTANT SOURCE FOR SHAKESPEARE

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), contemporary full dark brown calf rebacked, retaining original black 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"—with Shakespeare "clearly drawing upon Pliny's History as translated by Holland."

"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").

Holland, one of the greatest translators of the Elizabethan age, "is the eighth most cited writer in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary" (Hadfield, Oxford Handbook, 107). His translation of Pliny's Historie was an important source for Shakespeare. "In Othello's allusion to the Pontic Sea, Shakespeare was clearly drawing upon Pliny's Historie as translated by Holland… Similarly Pliny has also been cited as a source for Othello's reference to the 'medicinal gum' of 'the Arabian trees'" (Payne, Search for Meaning, 63), and many trace Caliban in The Tempest to Holland's Pliny. 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 woodcut emblems on each title page and woodcut initials. With errata and colophon leaf at rear. Volume II with printer's error duplicating Bbb2 and Bbb4 while omitting leaves Bbb3 and Bbb5; 212 paginated "112." Without first and last blanks. STC 20029.5. Pforzheimer 496. ESTC S115918. Brueggemann, 670. Lowndes, 1885. Owner initials to title page.

Leaves Aiiii-Av of Volume I remargined. Final leaf, with errata on recto and colophon on verso,with expert restoration. Restoration to corners of contemporary calf covers. An extremely good copy.