Bird of Prey: A 16th/17th Century Hand-Colored Engraving by Aldrovandi, 1599

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This very rare, first edition, folio hand-colored woodcut engraving of a bird of prey is plate 219 from Ulisse Aldrovandi’s … Read more This very rare, first edition, folio hand-colored woodcut engraving of a bird of prey is plate 219 from Ulisse Aldrovandi’s 'Opera Omnia', published between 1599 and 1648 in Bologna, Italy by Clemente Ferroni, Niccolo Tebaldini, & Giovanni Battista Bellagamba. The publication was a massive, 13 volume, natural history encyclopedia, which was the first to publish an image of toucan and bird of paradise birds. The first three volumes focussed on birds and was entitled in Latin "Ornithologiae hoc est De auibus historiae" (The History of Birds). In addition to illustrations and descriptions of animals, plants and minerals, later volumes featured fantastic “monsters”, including dragons. Only four of the volumes credited to Aldrovandi appeared in his life time. He was aware that the enormity of his task would stretch beyond his lifetime. He hoped that his own pupils would continue the unfinished business of writing the definitive history of nature. At the end of his life, his literary production totaled more than 400 volumes, a number that he claimed would take more than a century to print. As he had hoped, his students used his manuscripts to complete the remainder of his work. It was the largest collection of natural history illustrations to appear before the 18th century.
This beautiful hand-colored wood-cut engraving on chain-linked laid paper depicts a bird of prey standing on land with a small dog at its feet. There is a large uncolored bird of prey on the verso, standing on a small animal, possibly a sheep., plate 220. The sheet measures 9.25" x 14". There is ghosting of the image from the verso and a short this wormhole in the lower margin, but it is otherwise in excellent condition. It is rare to find individual engravings from Aldrovandi's work for sale. A set of the 13 volumes is currently available for over $312,000. See less