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ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605). [Opera omnia]. Bologna: 1599-1668.
ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605). [Opera omnia]. Bologna: 1599-1668. 13 volumes, 2 o (ca. 335 x 235 mm). Woodcut illustrations, head- and tail-pieces and initials. (Trimmed closely touching engraved titles and a few images, some variable light browning, occasinal dampstaining or minor worming, lacking a few leaves as noted below.) 19th-century calf, spine gilt in compartments (rebacked, old spines laid down). Provenance : Algernon Capell, Earl of Essex, Viscount Malden, and Baron Capell of Hadham (bookplate dated 1701 on verso of titles); John Duke of Bedford (armorial bookplate). Comprising: (I) Ornithologiae. Bologna: Francisum de Franciscis and Baptista Bellagamba, 1599-1603. 3 volumes. Engraved titles, 2 engraved portraits ca. 685 woodcut illustrations, (243 full-page). FIRST EDITION. Nissen IVB 18. -- (II) De animalibus insectis. Bologna: Baptista Bellagamba, 1602. Engraved title, engraved portrait and ca. 720 woodcut illustrations (24 full-page). FIRST EDITION. Nissen ZBI 66. -- (III) De reliquibus animalibus exanguibus ... Nempe de mollibus, crustaceis, testaceis, et zoophytis. Edited by Francesco Aldrovandi. Bologna: Baptista Bellagamba, 1606 [colophon dated 1605]. Engraved title, engraved portrait, ca. 600 woodcut illustrations. FIRST EDITION. Nissen ZBI 68. -- (IV) De piscibus ... et de cetis. Bologna: Baptista Bellagamba, 1613. Engraved title, 400 woodcut illustrations (141 full-page). FIRST EDITION. Nissen ZBI 70. (Lacks Rrr8 colophon.) -- (V) De quadrupedibus solidi pedibus. Ed. by Giovanni Cornelio Uterverio. Bologna: Victori Bonatius, 1616. Engraved title, 12 woodcut illustrations. Nissen FIRST EDITION. ZBI 72. -- (VI) De quadrupedum omnium bisulcorum historia. Bologna: Sebastiani Bonhommius, 1621. Engraved title and ca. 77 woodcut illustrations. FIRST EDITION. Nissen ZBI 76. (R1 torn.) -- (VII) Serpentum, et draconum historiae. Bologna: C. Ferroni for M.A. Bernia, 1640 [colophon dated 1639]. Engraved title, ca. 61 woodcut illustrations. FIRST EDITION. Nissen ZBI 78. (Lacks OO 6 and probably one preliminary and final leaf [blanks?].) -- (VIII) Monstrorum historia cum paralipomenis historiae omnium animalium. Edited by Bartolomeo Ambrosini. Bologna: G.B. Ferroni for Marco Antonio Bernia, 1642 and 1657 [colophon dated 1658]. 2 parts in one volume. Engraved title, ca. 477 woodcut illustrations (323 full-page). FIRST EDITION. Nissen ZBI 74. -- (IX) De quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis ... et de quadrupedibus digitatis oviparis. Edited by Bartolomeo Ambrosini. Bologna: G.B. Ferroni for M.A. Bernia, "1645" [colophon dated 1663]. Engraved title, 130 woodcut illustrations. Nissen ZBI 77. (Lacks 3 preliminary leaves, R2 and R5 [R3 and R4 bound in twice], and Ddd 6 .) -- (X) Museum metallicum. Edited by Bartolomeo Ambrosini. Bologna: G.B. Ferroni for M.A. Bernia, 1648. Engraved title, numerous woodcut illustrations (99 full-page). FIRST EDITION. Nissen ZBI 75. -- (XI) Dendrologiae. Edited by Ovidio Montalbani. Bologna: Giovanni Battista Ferroni for Girolamo Bernia, 1667-[1668]. 2 parts in one volume. Engraved title, ca. 219 woodcut illustrations (44 full-page). FIRST EDITION. Arnold Arboretum p.33; BM(NH) I, p.27; Hunt 306; Nissen BBI 14. ALL BUT ONE FIRST EDITIONS: A RARE SET OF THE BOLOGNA-PUBLISHED WORKS OF ALDROVANDI, ENCOMPASSING HIS "TRULY PRODIGIOUS STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY" ( DSB I, p.109). Aldrovandi was the moving force behind Bologna's botanical garden, one of the first in Europe. Linnaeus and the comte de Buffon considered him the father of natural history studies, based on his life-long collection of one of the most spectacular cabinets of curiosities. His "theatre" illuminating natural history comprised some 7000 specimens of the diversit di cose naturali , of which he first wrote a description in 1595. Between 1551 and 1554 he organised several expeditions to collect plants for a herbarium, among the first botanizing expeditions. Eventually his herbarium contained about 4760 dried specimens on 4117 sheet