Beschreibung:

PISO, Willem (1611-1678) and Georg MARKGRAF (1610-1644). Historia naturalis Brasiliae . Leiden: Franciscus Hackius; Amsterdam: Elzevir, 1648.
PISO, Willem (1611-1678) and Georg MARKGRAF (1610-1644). Historia naturalis Brasiliae . Leiden: Franciscus Hackius; Amsterdam: Elzevir, 1648. 2 parts in one volume, 2° (385 x 245mm). Engraved title by Theodor Matham 436 woodcut illustrations after Georg Markgraf and Albert Eckhout [Cleveland Collections count]. (Repairs on recto of title, clean tear to V3 in second part, occasional browning, staining, spotting and few small marginal tears.) Mid 20th-century half brown sheep (extremities rubbed, corners bumped). Provenance : few marginal annotations. FIRST EDITION OF AN IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC WORK ON BRAZIL . Described by Borba de Moraes as the most important 17th-century scientific work completed in Brazil, it was written by Piso, physician to the Count of Nassau, and the naturalist Markgraf. Piso's De medicina Brasiliensi details the herbs of Brazil and their healing powers, local diseases and poisonous reptiles. Markgraf's Historia rerum naturalium Brasiliae describes the plants, trees, animals, insects, marine life and shellfish of Brazil. The eighth and last part of Markgraf’s Historia was written by Laet, and describes the north-eastern region of Brazil and its inhabitants. This part, according to Moraes, ‘is very valuable from the ethnographic and linguistic aspect’. Borba de Moraes II, 675-6 (‘Sumptuously printed by Elzevir, IT IS ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL DUTCH WORKS ON BRAZILIANA ’); Garrison & Morton 5303 (‘Piso was the first to separate yaws from syphilis’); Nissen BBI 1553; Nissen IVB 589; Sabin 63028; Willems 1068.