Folio (33 x 23 cm): 2 parts, CCLXXXVI [= 286], [96] ff. Title printed in red and black within elaborate woodcut border, by Hans Springinklee. Part-title (of Index) within elaborate woodcut border. Large woodcut mark at the end. An early owner had this copy splendidly decorated: rubricated in yellow, painted arms on title, 7 large illuminated initials and two splendid painted illuminated panels on f. 17v (astronomical vision) and 78r (fishing scene). He also added an astronomical pen drawing of his own (f. 19v). (cut short, toned, occasional soiling or staining, piece of fore-edge margin of ff. 40 and 76 cut out). 17th-c. gold-tooled reddish leather, covers with gilt ornamental frames and corner pieces, richly gilt spine with 6 raised bands and morocco label, a.e.g. (rubbed, front joint split, head and tail repaired, corners bumped, gilding of edges fading). Good copy ruled in red
Very rare early complete ed. of Pliny's Natural history. The first and largest of the illuminated panels is an elaborate alchemical-astrological painting (90 x 190 mm); it has at the left a large armillary sphere with the signs of the zodiac painted on its circumference, images of the sun and moon, a rainbow, fiery spears, and other alchemical symbols, all framed within an architectonic gilt border, with six wind figures blowing from the corners and center top and bottom. At the foot of f. 78r, where begins Book IX, concerning the animals which inhabit the seas, a charming marine scene has been painted across the lower margin (60 x 210 mm). Fish are seen disporting beneath the surface, one large fish jumps above it, a galleon is seen in the distance, but at right another ship, with lookout aloft and two men handling a large net, is at work fishing. The decoration is probably to be associated with the early owner who has signed the title 3 times, Ioannes Savigneus (Jean de Savigny), with the motto ""Ut sperem supero"" Much later (late 17th c.?) this copy became a prize book of the Paris Collège d'Harcourt (gilt arms on covers). Ref. VD16 P-3528. - Not in Adams. Prov. A number of old marginal annotations (some cropped). Contemp. ownership entries on title (fading or deleted). Unidentified painted coat-of-arms at title bottom
