An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

WILLUGHBY, Francis (Willoughby)

3 entries
  • 7089

Ornithologiae, libri tres....Totum opus recognovit, digessit, supplevit, Joannis Raius.

London: John Martyn, Regiae Societatis typographi, 1676.

Ray and Willughby were the first ornithologists to discard the Aristotelian principles of classification by function, replacing them with a morphological system based on beak form, foot structure and body size that reflected the true relationships even better than Linnaeus's Systema naturae of sixty years later. The credit for this system almost certainly belongs to Ray, who edited and supplemented the Ornithologiae from notes left at Willughby's death, and who, during their years of partnership, had done the major part of the observations and records. In an attempt to bring order out of the chaos of tradition, Ray collated his and Willughby's observations against those recorded by all previous writers, eliminating duplicate species, species vaguely described or reported on hearsay, and species that were clearly fabulous. Revised English translation by Ray with the addition of 3 treatises on fowling, the care of songbirds, and falconry, London, 1678. Digital facsimile of the 1678 edition from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.



Subjects: ZOOLOGY › Illustration, ZOOLOGY › Ornithology
  • 7088

De historia piscium libri quatuor.

Oxford: e theatro Sheldoniano [for the Royal Society], 1686.

A large folio volume with 187 engraved plates considered the first modern encyclopedia on fish, this was largely the work of John Ray, prepared and expanded from Willougby's notes, more than a decade after his death. The work was published by the Royal Society at considerable expense; the Society's President, Samuel Pepys, personally underwrote 79 of the engraved plates, and other members sponsored the remaining plates. Despite its importance and sumptuous production, the work was slow to sell, and the Society, still owning a large number of copies 50 years after publication, authorized a re-issue of the original sheets with a cancel title in 1743..



Subjects: Encyclopedias, ZOOLOGY › Ichthyology, ZOOLOGY › Illustration
  • 8853

Vol. 1: Travels through the low countries, Germany, Italy and France, with curious observations, natural, topographical, moral, physiological, & c. Also, A catalogue of plants, found spontaneously growing in those parts, and their virtues. Vol. 2: A collection of curious travels and voyages. Containing Dr. Leonhart Rauwolff's journey into the eastern countries, viz. Syria, Palestine, or the Holy Land, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Chaldea, & c. Translated from the original high Dutch, by Nicholas Staphorst. And also, travels into Greece, Asia, Minor, Egypt, Arabia Felix, Petraea, Ethiopia, the Red Sea, & c. Collected from the observations of Mons. Belon, Prosper Alpinus, Dr. Huntingdon, Mr. Vernon, Sir George Wheeler, Dr. Smith, Mr. Greaves, and others. To which are added three catalogues of such trees, shrubs and herbs as grow in the Levant. By the Rev. John Ray, F. R. S. (2 vols.)

London: For J. Walthoe..., 1738.

This is the second and best edition in 2 volumes of works that were first issued separately in 1673 and 1693 respectively. For Rauwolf see No. 7327. Digital facsimile of the 1738 edition from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.



Subjects: BOTANY, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Middle East, VOYAGES & Travels by Physicians, Surgeons & Scientists