ORIGINAL HANDCOLOURED WOODCUTS OF A ROOSTER & HEN FROM IN SOUTH AFRICA

This is an original 470 year old hand coloured print from the first edition of Conrad Gessner's bird book published at Zurich by Christoffel Froschower in 1557. Gessner's bird book was part of a four volume set known as the Historiae Animalium or "Histories of Animals" appearing from 1551-1558. It was an encyclopedic work of an inventory of Renaissance zoology. Conrad Gessner (1516-1565) was a Swiss naturalist and bibliographer. It is the first modern zoological work that attempts to describe all known animals, and the first bibliography of natural history writings. Historiae Animalium appeared in four volumes (quadrupeds, birds, fishes) from 1551-1558. Volume 1 was an illustrated work on live-bearing four-footed animals, Volume 2 on egg-laying quadrupeds, Volume three on birds and Volume four on fish and other aquatic animals. A condensed popular version translated into German and known as Gessner's Thierbuch or "animal book" was published in Zurich in 1563. Gessner was a protestant and his work was added to the Roman Catholic Church's list of prohibited books soon after publication. Pope Paul IV strongly believed that the religious convictions of an author contaminated all his writings. Though it is a large work Gessner sought to distinguish facts from myth, his encyclopedic work also included mythical creatures and imaginary beasts, intermixed with the strange newly discovered animals from the East Indies, those of the far north and animals brought back from the New World. Gessner made many of the illustrations for this work himself but acknowledges that he also sought the help of other artists,one being Lucas Schan from Strasbourg. The layout of the work is in the traditional style of the emblem book where images are accompanied by explanatory text and the names of animals are given in different languages. Gessner was ennobled in 1564 and in many later sources he is referred to as Conrad Von Gessner. He did not live long as a nobleman though as he died from the plague scarcely a year later. Patrons of the period had the option of purchasing either uncoloured copies for 2 Guilders or coloured copies for 3 Guilders. If the order was for a coloured copy the book was then sent to specialist shops for this purpose. This leaf is from an incomplete coloured copy. The leaf is in great condition for it's age with only light age yellowing on the margins.