Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Cantimpre: De Apibus
De Apibus by Tomás de Cantimpré (1627)
The book begins with a life of Thomas de Cantimpré, a 13th-century scholar and preacher. The treatise itself is an elaborate allegory (very elaborate!) on the lives of bees - who, as far as Cantimpre are concerned, are ruled by a king bee, not a queen. :-)
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Sunday, March 25, 2012
Oppian's Halieuticks
Oppian's Halieuticks (1722)
Working on Camerarius' nature emblems, I've been seeing references to Oppian and his work on fishes so I thought it would be fun to include this 18th-century English translation of Oppian by "Mr. Diaper." The translation is into English verse; here are a couple of couplets for your reading pleasure:
For who with all his Skill can certain teach,
How deep the Sea, how far the Waters reach?
Foolish th' Attempt; none can the Space define,
The Depth retires beneath, and mocks the sinking Line.
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Dornavius: Amphitheatrum Sapientiae
Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Socraticae Ioco-Seriae by Caspar Dornavius (1619)
As the full title explains: Amphitheatrum sapientiae Socraticae joco-seriae, hoc est, Encomia et commentaria autorum, qua veterum, qua recentiorum prope omnium: quibus res, aut pro vilibus vulgo aut damnosis habitae, styli patrocinio vindicantur, exornantur: opus ad mysteria naturae discenda, ad omnem amoenitatem, sapientiam, virtutem, publice privatimque utilissimum. This book is an astounding anthology, as you can see from looking at the "syllabus" of authors and natural history topics in the first volume. For Greek authors, a facing Greek-Latin text presentation is used. What a treasure trove!
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Sunday, November 27, 2011
Philes: De Animalium Proprietate
De Animalium Proprietate by Philes & Joachim Camerarius (1596)
Philes was a Byzantine Greek poet active in the early 14th century. This book contains the Greek iambic verses, along with a Latin version, also in iambs, describing the characteristics of the animals. Following Philes' verses, you will find an appendix by Camerarius in both Latin and Greek, expanding on Philes' project. There is an index listing the animals in the back of the book.
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Holbrook: Dante and the Animal Kingdom
Dante and the Animal Kingdom by Richard Thayer Holbrook (1902)
In addition to animals, the book includes man, the angels, the devil and demonic beings, followed by various animals, such as the lion, the wolf, the dog, etc., birds, serpents and insects.
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Franz: Animalium historia sacra
Animalium historia sacra by Wolfgang Franz (1613)
The book is organized by chapters, with a single animal per chapter or related animals in a single chapter. The emphasis is on Bible animals but a wide variety of Greek and Latin sources are cited.
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Monday, October 10, 2011
Ulbricht: De animalium nominibus Aesopeis
De animalium nominibus Aesopeis capita tria by Karl Ulbricht (1908)
This is a useful book for both Greek and Latin animal names, with a nice range of sources cited. There's even a little appendix on baby animals: de catulorum nominibus.
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Saturday, October 8, 2011
Houghton: Moral Significance of Animals in Greek Proverbs
Moral Significance of Animals as Indicated in Greek Proverbs by Herbert Pierrepont Houghton (1915)
Ah, the days when you could submit a PhD dissertation that was just 65 pages in length! The focus is on animals represented in many proverbs: the goat, the fox, the ox, the horse, the camel, the dog, the hare, the lion, the wolf and the donkey, along with some notes about minor animals, birds, reptiles and insects.
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Friday, October 7, 2011
Wortmann: De comparationibus Plautinis et Terentianis
De comparationibus Plautinis et Terentianis ad animalia spectantibus by Ernst Franz Wortmann (1883)
The book is organized by animal, with citations from Plautus and Terence along with additional comparative material from Greek and Roman sources.
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Thursday, October 6, 2011
Phipson: Animal-lore of Shakespeare's Time
The Animal-lore of Shakespeare's Time by Emma Phipson (1883)
This is an enormous and entertaining book which is organized by chapters which contain related animals; some chapters, such as dog, are about a single animal. It includes beasts, birds, reptiles, fish and insects.
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Sunday, October 2, 2011
Camerarius: Symbolorum ac Emblematum Centuriae
Symbolorum ac Emblematum Ethico-Politicorum Centuriae Quatuor by Ioachimus Camerarius (1697)
This is a beautiful edition, over 800 pages long, of all four of Camerarius' emblem books: 1. trees and plants; 2. animals; 3. birds and insects; and 4. fishes and reptilles. Unfortunately, because of the size of the book, some of the pages are hard to read, especially at the beginning and end of the book. Where the pages are hard to read in this edition, you can compare them with this less attractive edition of the same book published in 1668, along with a very attractive edition of 1668. There is a beautiful edition online at the Internet Archive, too.
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Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Bochart: Hierozoicon
Hierozoicon, sive De Animalibus Sacrae Scripturae, by Samuel Bochart, Volume 1, 1793; Volume 2, 1794.
- GoogleBooks: Volume 1 - Volume 2
- GoogleBooks PDF: Volume 1 - Volume 2
- GoogleBookstore: Volume 1 - Volume 2
For the longest time, only one volume of Bochart's magnum opus was available at GoogleBooks, but now you can find both volumes of the Hierozoicon. The book is in Latin, with abundant citations of Greek, Hebrew and Arabic. Bochart represents a breadth of scholarship that is only very rarely found nowadays; find out more in this Wikipedia article about him. Systematically, he works his way through all the living creatures mentioned in the Bible, with abundant information and extraordinary detail about each and every one. This was one of the books I always coveted in the History of Science Collections at the University of Oklahoma - and now I have my very own copies in PDF form!
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