BELON, Pierre [Pierre Belon du Mans; Petrus Bellonius Cenomanus]
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L'histoire naturelle des estranges poissons marins, avec la vraie peincture & description du daulphin, & de plusieurs autres de son espece.Paris: Regnaud Chaudière, 1551.This, Belon’s first biological work, is regarded as the earliest modern scientific work in the field of comparative anatomy. Finely illustrated with woodcuts. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. Subjects: COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, NATURAL HISTORY › Illustration, ZOOLOGY › Ichthyology, ZOOLOGY › Illustration |
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De aquatilibus, libri duo cum [epsilon] [iota] conibus ad viuam ipsorum effigiem, quoad eius fieri potuit, expressis.Paris: Carolus Stephanus, 1553.Considerably expanded from Belon's work of 1551. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. Subjects: NATURAL HISTORY › Illustration, ZOOLOGY › Ichthyology, ZOOLOGY › Illustration |
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Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables, trouuées en Grece, Asie, Iudée, Egypte, Arabie, & autres pays estranges, redigées en trois livres.Paris: Gilles Corrozet, 1553.Belon was first trained as an apothecary, and worked in that capacity for the bishop of Clermont, Guillaume Duprat. Around 1542 he studied medicine In Paris, and obtained a licentiate in medicine, though he never took the formal degree of doctor. With the recommendation of Duprat, he became an apothecary to Cardinal François de Tournon. Under this patronage, he was able to undertake extensive scientific voyages and travels. Beginning in 1546, he travelled through Greece, Crete, Asia Minor, Egypt, Arabia and Palestine, and returned in 1549. He hoped to find the remains of Homer's Troy in the Levant. His Observations, an account of these travels, included numerous woodcut illustrations. Digital facsimile of the 1553 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Translated into English by James Hogarth as Travels in the Levant: The observations of Pierre Belon of Le Mans on many singularities and memorable things found in Greece, Turkey, Judaea (2012). Subjects: COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Greece , COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Israel, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Middle East, NATURAL HISTORY › Illustration, VOYAGES & Travels by Physicians, Surgeons & Scientists |
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De arboribus coniferis, resiniferis, aliis quoque nonnullis sempiterna fronde virentibus, cum earundem iconibus ad viuum expressis. Item de melle cedrino, cedria, agarico, resinis, & iis quae ex coniferis proficiscuntur.Paris: apud benedictum Prevost, 1553.One of the first treatises on conifers and other evergreen plants. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. Subjects: BOTANY, BOTANY › Botanical Illustration, BOTANY › Dendrology |
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L'histoire de la nature des oyseaux, avec leurs descriptions, et naïfs portraicts retirez du naturel escrite en sept livres.Paris: B. Prevost & G. Cauellat, 1555.Belon’s book on birds is well illustrated, including plates of the skeletons of man and bird side by side and in the same posture, to compare them bone for bone. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. Subjects: COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, NATURAL HISTORY › Illustration, ZOOLOGY › Ornithology |
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Les remonstrances sur le default du labour et culture des plantes, et de la cognoissance d'icelles, contenant la maniere d'affranchir et appriuoiser les arbres sauuages.Paris: Gilles Corrozet, 1558.The first work on agriculture written in French. As an apothecary, Belon was especially interested in the pharmaceutical value of plants. Having learned about them on his travels, he introduced numerous foreign plants into France, including the tree of Judea, cork oak, pistachio, cedar, jujube, and green oak, eastern juniper, and myrtle. Except for a portrait of Belon, this relatively brief work is unillustrated. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. Subjects: Agriculture / Horticulture, BOTANY, BOTANY › Dendrology, BOTANY › Medical Botany |