Bruce Marshall Rare Books Archives

The Historie of the World: Commonly Called the Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. Translated into English by Philemon Holland, Doctor of Physicke.

London, 1634, 2 volumes in 1. [58], 614, [42]; [12], 632, [85] pp. Collation: Vol. 1. (Title and 4 Preface leaves unsigned), 4, a-b6, A8, B-Iii6, Kkk4; Vol. 2. A-Ooo6, Ppp8 (-Ppp8, a blank). Folio (330 x 220mm), An attractive copy in contemporary dark tan calf, raised bands, later morocco label. Second English Edition of the translation by Philemon Holland, originally published by Islip in 1601. This encyclopaedia of ancient knowledge about the natural world had already had a great indirect influence in England, as elsewhere in Europe, but had not been translated into English before, and would not be again for 250 years. Indeed, after four centuries, Holland is still the only translator of this work to attempt to evoke its literary richness and beauty" (ODNB). The Natural History, divided into 37 libri, or books, was completed, except for finishing touches, in 77 CE. In the preface, dedicated to Titus (who became emperor shortly before Plinys death), Pliny justified the title and explained his purpose on utilitarian grounds as the study of the nature of things, that is, life (Preface, 13). Heretofore, he continued, no one had attempted to bring together the older, scattered material that belonged to encyclic culture (enkyklios paideia, the origin of the word encyclopaedia). Disdaining high literary style and political mythology, Pliny adopted a plain stylebut one with an unusually rich vocabularyas best suited to his purpose. A novel feature of the Natural History is the care taken by Pliny in naming his sources, more than 100 of which are mentioned. Book I, in fact, is a summary of the remaining 36 books, listing the authors and sometimes the titles of the books (many of which are now lost) from which Pliny derived his material. The Natural History properly begins with Book II, which is devoted to cosmology and astronomy. Here, as elsewhere, Pliny demonstrated the extent of his reading, especially of Greek texts. Books VII through XI treat zoology, beginning with humans (VII), then mammals and reptiles (VIII), fishes and other marine animals (IX), birds (X), and insects (XI). In Books XII through XIX, on botany, Pliny came closest to making a genuine contribution to science. Although he drew heavily upon Theophrastus, he reported some independent observations, particularly those made during his travels in Germany. Pliny is one of the chief sources of modern knowledge of Roman gardens, early botanical writings, and the introduction into Italy of new horticultural and agricultural. STC (2nd ed) 20029; Pforzheimer 496. Cf. PMM 5.