c. 512 DIOSCORIDES, Pedanius [Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης] (40 – 90); NICANDER OF COLOPHON (ΝΊΚΑΝΔΡΟΣ Ὁ ΚΟΛΟΦΏΝΙΟΣ; NIKANDER) (-125 – ); KRATEUAS, [Kratevas, Crateuas, Cratevas; Κρατεύας ὁ Ῥιζότομος] ( – 95)
Vienna Dioscorides. Codex Vindobonensis Med. Gr. 1.
The oldest surviving copy of Pedanius Dioscorides's treatise on medical botany and pharmacology, De materia medica, is an illuminated Byzantine manuscript produced about 512 CE. Dioscorides, a Greek physician, who may…
GMN 6816 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8979
1475 MEGENBERG, Konrad von (1309 – 1374)
Buch der Natur.
The first printed book to contain illustrations of animals, and the first notable scientific book in German. It discusses animals, birds, fish, anatomy, physiology, plagues, the medicinal value of plants and stones, e…
GMN 276.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8810
1544 TURNER, William (1508 – 1568)
Avium praecipuarum, quarum apud Plinium et Aristotelem mentio est, brevis et succincta historia.
The first book on birds with clear descriptions of the appearance of individual birds based on the author’s own experiences and observations. Turner attempted to determine those birds named by Aristotle and Pliny; he …
GMN 277 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8812
1555 BELON, Pierre [Pierre Belon du Mans; Petrus Bellonius Cenomanus] (1517 – 1564)
L'histoire de la nature des oyseaux, avec leurs descriptions, et naïfs portraicts retirez du naturel escrite en sept livres.
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.
GMN 283 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8819
1596 FREDERICK II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194 – 1250)
Reliqua librorum Friderici II. Imperatoris, De arte venandi cum avibus, cum Manfredi Regis additionibus. Ex membranis vetustis nunc primum edita. Albertus Magnus De falconibus, asturibus, & accipitribus.
Books I-II of De arte venandi cum avibus, edited by Marcus Welser from a very old, incomplete defective manuscript, which lacked Books III-IV. More than a dissertation on hunting, this work is considered the first zoo…
GMN 7117 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9284
1650 –1653 JONSTON, John [Jan] (1603 – 1675)
Historia naturalis. 6 vols: Historiae naturalis de quadrupedibus; Historiae naturalis de avibus; Historiae naturalis de piscibus et cetis; Historiae naturalis de exanguibus aquaticis; Historiae naturalis de insectis, de serpentibus et draconbius; Historiae naturalis de serpentibus.
The first 5 volumes were published in 1650; the last volume was published in 1653. This work, published in small folio format, includes 249 engraved plates and six elegant engraved title pages (4 resembling frontispie…
GMN 11704 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13905
1655 MOFFET, Thomas (Muffet, Mouffet, Moffett) (1553 – 1604); BENNET, Christopher (1617 – 1655)
Health's improvement, or rules for preparing all sorts of food used in this nation. Written by that ever famous Thomas Muffet, Doctor in physick: Corrected and enlarged by Christopher Bennet, Doctor in Physick, and fellow of the Colledg of Physitians in London.
Moffet's work in nutrition was collected in his book Health's Improvement, which was designed more for the layman than for physicians. It also contains the first list of British wildfowl, recognizing for the first tim…
GMN 9324 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11506
1672 JOSSELYN, John (1630 – 1675)
New-Englands rarities discovered: in birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, and plants of that country. Together with the physical and chyrurgical remedies wherewith the natives constantly use to cure their distempers, wounds, and sores…
The first detailed account of the natural history and botany of North America, including the first extensive study of native North American medicine.
GMN 1826.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2138
1676 RAY, John (1628 – 1705); WILLUGHBY, Francis (Willoughby) (1635 – 1672)
Ornithologiae, libri tres....Totum opus recognovit, digessit, supplevit, Joannis Raius.
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 re…
GMN 7089 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9256
1726 MARSILI, Luigi Ferdinando [MARSIGLI] (1658 – 1730)
Danubius pannonico-mysicus, observationibus geographicis, astronomicis, hydrographicis, historicis, physicis perlustratus et in sex tomos digestus. 6 vols.
An extensive illustrated work, with 283 copperplate engravings, on the natural history of the Danube river, the longest river in central Europe, which runs from southern Germany into Austria, through Slovakia, Hungary…
GMN 12958 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15205
1731 –1747 CATESBY, Mark (1683 – 1749)
The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands: Containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants: Particularly, the forest-trees, shrubs, and other plants, not hitherto described, or very incorrectly figured by authors. Together with their descriptions in English and French. To which are added observations on the air, soil and waters: With remarks on agriculture, grain, pulse, roots &c. To the whole is prefixed a new and complete map of the countries treated of. 2 vols.
The only attempt to record the natural history of a region of America during the colonial period. Includes 220 fine handcolored etched plates after and by Catesby and mostly signed with his cipher, excepting plates 61…
GMN 9571 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11758
1731 –1738 DERHAM, William (1657 – 1735); ALBIN, Eleazar (1690 – 1742)
A natural history of birds. Illustrated with two hundred and five copper plates, curiously engraven from the life. Published by the author Eleazar Albin, and carefully colour'd by his daughter and self, from the originals, drawn from the live birds. 3 vols.
This was the first English bird book issued with hand-colored plates, colored by Albin and his daughter Elizabeth. "For the most part Albin delineated one bird per plate. The birds are placed on a branch or on the gro…
GMN 12877 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15124
1746 CATESBY, Mark (1683 – 1749)
Of birds of passage.
Catesby was one of the first ornithologists to study bird migration. Digital facsimile from the Royal Society at this link.
GMN 9570 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11757
1749 –1789 BUFFON, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de (1707 – 1788)
Histoire naturelle générale et particulière…. 44 vols., plus atlas.
This vast work is divided into seven parts. I: Histoire naturelle générale et particulière…15 vols., by Buffon and L.J.M. Daubenton (1749-67). II: Histoire naturelle des oiseaux. 9 vols., by Buffon, P. Guéneau de Mont…
GMN 324 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/193
1754 CATESBY, Mark (1683 – 1749); EDWARDS, George (1693 – 1773)
The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants, particulary the forest trees, shrubs, and other plants, not hitherto described, or very incorrectly figured by authors. Together with their descriptions in English and French. To which are added, observations on the air, soil, and waters with remarks upon agriculture, grain, pulse, roots, &c. To the whole is prefixed a new and correct map of the countries treated of / by the late Mark Catesby; revised by Mr. [George] Edwards. 2 vols.
Second edition, edited by ornithologist George Edwards. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 7678 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9850
1760 BRISSON, Mathurin Jacques (1723 – 1806)
Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés: a laquelle on a joint une description exacte de chaque espece, avec les citations des auteurs qui en ont traité, les noms quils leur ont donnés, ceux que leur ont donnés les différentes nations, & les noms vulgaires. 6 vols.
Title pages in both French and Latin. One of the earliest systematic treatises on birds by a contemporary of Linnaeus. The work treats 1336 species of which Brisson claimed to recognize more than 800 by sight. The pla…
GMN 13143 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15402
1771 TUNSTALL, Marmaduke (1743 – 1790)
Ornithologia Britannica: seu Avium omnium Britannicarum tam Terrrestrium quam Aquaticarum catalogus, sermone Latino, An;glico & Gallico redditus: Cui subjicitur appendix, aves Alienigenas, in Angliam raro adventientes, complectens.
This was probably the first natural history treatise published in England that employed binomial nomenclature. Semi-facsimile edition edited by Alfred Newton and published by The Willoughby Society in 1880 as Tunstall…
GMN 13257 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15522
1784 –1787 PENNANT, Thomas (1726 – 1798)
Arctic zoology. 3 vols.
Pennant had "intended to write a "Zoology of North America" but as he explained in the "Advertisement", since he felt mortified by the loss of British control over America, this was changed to Arctic Zoology.[22] The …
GMN 11618 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13818
1786 HUNTER, John (1728 – 1793)
Observations on certain parts of the animal oeconomy.
Includes John Hunter’s observations on the secondary sexual characteristics in birds, on the descent of the testis, on the air sac in birds, on the structure of the placenta, etc., together with the original descripti…
GMN 309 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/124
1794 –1819 DONOVAN, Edward (1768 – 1837)
The natural history of British birds; or, a selection of the most rare, beautiful and interesting birds which inhabit this country: The descriptions from the Systema naturae of Linnaeus; with general observations, either original or collected from the latest and most esteemed English ornithologists; and embellished with figures, drawn, engraved, and coloured from the original specimens. 10 vols.
The first 5 volumes were issued in monthly parts, each consisting of 2 plates and accompanying text. A volume came out each year between 1794 and 1798; the fifth volume stated: "This work being now completed." However…
GMN 9086 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11265
1799 BARTON, Benjamin Smith (1766 – 1815)
Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania. Part First [All Published].
This 24-page pamphlet is the first work by an American devoted entirely to American birds. It deals predominantly with migratory birds, arranged according to the dates throughout the year 1791 in which they were first…
GMN 7218 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9386
1801 LEVAILLANT, François (Le Vaillant) (1753 – 1824)
Histoire naturelle d'une partie d'oiseaux nouveaux et rares de l'Amérique et des Indes: Ouvrage destiné par l'Auteur à faire partie de son ornithologie d'Afrique.
Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.
GMN 13451 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15725
1808 –1814 WILSON, Alexander (1766 – 1813); ORD, George
American ornithology; or, the natural history of the birds of the United States: Illustrated with plates engraved and colored from original drawings taken from nature. 9 vols.
Considered the "father of American ornithology," Wilson was the greatest American ornithologist before Audubon. Wilson died with the 7th volume in press, and the 8th and 9th volumes were completed by Wilson's friend G…
GMN 9498 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11683
1817 CUVIER, Jean Léopold Chrétien Frédéric "Georges" (1769 – 1832)
Le règne animal. 4 vols.
Second edition in five vols., 1829–1830. After Cuvier's death 12 "disciples" of Cuvier brought out a third edition in 22 vols. from 1836 to 1849. The 12 "disciples" were Jean Victor Audouin (insects), Gerard Paul Desh…
GMN 327 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/173
1820 –1823 SWAINSON, William John (1789 – 1855)
Zoological illustrations, or, original figures and descriptions of new, rare, or interesting animals, selected chiefly from the classes of ornithology, entomology, and conchology, and arranged on the principles of Cuvier and other modern zoologists. 3 vols.
"Apart from the common and scientific names of many species, it is for the quality of his illustrations that he [Swainson] is best remembered. His friend William Elford Leach, head of zoology at the British Museum, en…
GMN 9197 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11378
1825 –1828 BONAPARTE, Charles Lucien Jules Laurent, 2nd Prince of Canino (1803 – 1857)
American ornithology; or, the natural history of birds inhabiting the United States, not given by Wilson. 4 vols.
Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon, set out to document birds in the United States that were not mentioned by Alexander Wilson.
GMN 9499 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11684
1827 –1838 AUDUBON, John James Laforest (1785 – 1851)
The birds of America. From original drawings by John James Audubon. 4 vols.
Contains 435 hand-colored plates in double elephant folio format, originally issued in 87 parts. The birds of America is widely regarded as the greatest illustrated ornithological work ever published, and one of the g…
GMN 322 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/197
1831 –1839 AUDUBON, John James Laforest (1785 – 1851); MACGILLIVRAY, William (1796 – 1852)
Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America; accompanied by descriptions of the objects represented in the work entitled The Birds of America, and interspersed with delineations of American scenery and manners. 5 vols.
This was the text for Aububon's The birds of America. Audubon wrote it with the assistance of William Macgillivray, though he did not credit him on the title page. The text included Audubon's accounts of his travels a…
GMN 12797 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15043
1832 –1833 RATHKE, Martin Heinrich (1793 – 1860)
Abhandlungen zur Bildungs-und Entwicklungs-Geschichte der Menschen und der Thiere. 2 pts.
Rathke’s most notable discovery was of structures homologous with gill slits in bird and mammalian embryos. He discredited the vertebral theory of the skull.
GMN 480 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1377
1832 –1834 NUTTALL, Thomas (1786 – 1859)
A manual of the ornithology of the United States and of Canada. Vol. 1: The land birds. Vol. 2: The water birds.
Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 7773 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9945
1832 LEAR, Edward (1812 – 1888)
Illustrations of the family of Psittacidæ, or parrots: The greater part of them species hitherto unfigured, containing forty-two lithographic plates, drawn from life, and on stone.
For this work Lear drew portraits of mostly live specimens directly on stone, creating artistic masterpieces that established his reputation as a natural history painter. Lear issued only 175 copies and ran out of fun…
GMN 13354 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15625
1833 –1866 JARDINE, Sir William (1800 – 1874)
The naturalist's library. Edited by Sir William Jardine. 40 vols.
"1833, Natural History of Humming Birds, Part I, (Ornithology Vol. VI) by William Jardine, with memoir of Carl Linnaeus. (online) 1833, Monkeys, (Mammalia Vol. I) by William Jardine, with a memoir of Comte de Buffon (…
GMN 10177 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12366
1836 LAUGIER DE CHARTROUSE, Guillaume Michel Jérôme Meiffren (1772 – 1843)
Catalogue des oiseaux.
Catalogue of the collection of over 3400 New World, Africa, Asian, Australian and European stuffed birds gather by the ornithologist, botanist and politican, following the order of the display of these specimens in La…
GMN 13037 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15287
1838 LAUGIER DE CHARTROUSE, Guillaume Michel Jérôme Meiffren (1772 – 1843); TEMMINCK, Coenraad Jacob (1778 – 1858)
Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d'oiseaux, pour servir de suite et de complément aux planches enluminées de Buffon, édition en-folio et in 4to de l'Imprimerie Royale, 1770. Publié par C. J. Temminck. 5 vols.
Though Baron Laugier was responsible for this publication, which was issued over a period of 18 years, but not formally published until 1838, the scientific work has been credited to Temminck. Describes about 800 spec…
GMN 13036 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15286
1839 AUDUBON, John James Laforest (1785 – 1851)
A synopsis of the birds of North America.
This was Audubon's extensively annotated systematic index, or a kind of scientific outline, to the double elephant folio, Birds of America. With 359 pages it amounted to a separate work, and could be studied without a…
GMN 13013 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15263
1840 –1843 OWEN, Sir Richard (1804 – 1892); DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809 – 1882); GOULD, John (1804 – 1881); BELL, Thomas (1792 – 1880); WATERHOUSE, George Robert (1810 – 1888); JENYNS, Leonard (1800 – 1893)
The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, R. N., during the years 1832 to 1836. Edited by Charles Darwin. 5 pts in 3 vols.
Part 1: Fossil mammalia by Richard Owen; Part 2: Mammalia by George Waterhouse; Part 3: Birds by John Gould; Part 4: Fish by Leonard Jenyns; Part 5: Reptiles by Thomas Bell. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive…
GMN 7437 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9609
1840 –1844 AUDUBON, John James Laforest (1785 – 1851)
The Birds of America, from drawings made in the United States and their territories. 7 vols.
Audubon created 65 new images for the octavo edition, supplementing the original 435 in the double-elephant folio edition of 1827-1838. The resulting series of 500 chromolithographed plates constituted the most extens…
GMN 13112 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15365
1841 –1854 DUMONT D'URVILLE, Jules Sébastien César (1790 – 1842); DUMOUTIER, Pierre-Marie-Alexandre (1797 – 1873); BLANCHARD, Charles Émile (1819 – 1900); JACQUINOT, Charles Hector (1796 – 1879); HOMBRON, Jacques Bernard (1798 – 1852); PUCHERAN, Jacques (1817 – 1895); GUICHENOT, Antoine Alphonse (1809 – 1876); LUCAS, H.; ROUSSEAU, L.; MONTAGNE, Jean Pierre François Camille (1784 – 1866); DECAISNE, Joseph (1807 – 1882); GRANGE, J.; VINCENDON-DUMOULIN, Clément Adrien (1811 – 1858); COUPVENT-DESBOIS, Aimé Auguste Élie (1814 – 1892)
Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l'Océanie sur les corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée, exécuté...pendant...1837-1840, sous le commandement de M. J. DUMONT D'URVILLE... publié... sour la direction supérieure de M. [C. H.] Jacquinot, &c. 23 vols. in 22.
In 1836 King Louis-Philippe, enthusiastic for Southern Hemisphere exploration, sponsored Dumont d'Urville's plan for a circumnavigation focusing on the South Seas. D'Urville had already distinguished himself on two Pa…
GMN 11902 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14107
1843 –1844 HINDS, Richard Brinsley (1811 – 1846); GRAY, John Edward (1800 – 1875); GOULD, John (1804 – 1881); RICHARDSON, Sir John (1787 – 1865)
The zoology of the voyage of the H.M.S. Sulphur, under the command of Captain Sir Edward Belcher during the years 1836-42. Edited and superintended by Richard Brinsley Hinds. Vol. 1: Mammalia by J.E. Gray; Birds by J. Gould; Fish by J. Richardson. Vol. 2.: Mollusca by R. B. Hinds.
Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.
GMN 9167 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11346
1843 –1856 YARRELL, William (1784 – 1856); FUSSELL, Alexander (1814 – 1881); THOMPSON, John (1785 – 1866)
A history of British birds. 3 vols. plus 2 Supplements. (5 vols.)
According to its preface, Yarrell's British Birds was first published "in thirty-seven parts of three sheets each, at intervals of two months; the first Part was issued in July 1837 and the last in May 1843. The sheet…
GMN 12941 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15188
1848 STRICKLAND, Hugh Edwin (1811 – 1853); MELVILLE, Alexander Gordon (1819 – 1901)
The dodo and its kindred; Or, the history, affinities, and osteology of the dodo, solitaire, and other extinct birds of the islands Mauritius, Rodriguez and Bourbon.
The first separate monograph on the dodo, an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. "The closest genetic relative to the dodo was the also extinct …
GMN 10176 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12365
1850 –1863 CABANIS, Jean Louis (1816 – 1906); HEINE, Jakob Gottlieb Ferdinand (1809 – 1894)
Museum Heineanum: Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine, auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt, mit kritischen Anmerkungen und Beschreibung der neuen Arten, systematisch bearbeitet von Jean Cabanis. 4 vols.
Heine collected the largest private collection of birds in the mid-19th century. His collection of 27,000 specimens and 15,000 books is preserved the Heineanum Halberstadt Museum in Halberstadt. Digital facsimile from…
GMN 13001 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15250
1856 CASSIN, John (1813 – 1869)
Illustrations of the birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America. Intended to contain descriptions and figures of North American birds not given by former American authors, and a general synopsis of North American ornithology. 1853 to 1855.
Originally issued in ten parts from 1853 to 1855. Cassin ran an engraving and lithographing firm in Philadelphia, which produced illustrations for government and scientific publications. He pursued ornithology as an a…
GMN 7875 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/10047
1857 –1859 TORREY, John (1796 – 1873); EMORY, William Hemsley (1811 – 1887); BAIRD, Spencer Fullerton (1823 – 1887); CONRAD, Timothy Abbott (1803 – 1877); ENGELMANN, George (1809 – 1884); GIRARD, Charles Frédéric (1822 – 1895); PARRY, Charles Christopher (1823 – 1890); SCHOTT, Arthur Carl Victor (1814 – 1875); HALL, James Jr. (1811 – 1898)
Report on the United States and Mexican boundary survey: Made under the direction of the secretary of the Interior
Vol. 1, pt. by W. H. Emory. Vol. 1, pt. 2: Geological reports by C.C. Parry and Arthur Schott, notes by W. H. Emory; Paleontology and geology of the boundary by James Hall; Description of cretaceous and tertiary fossi…
GMN 10514 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12707
1860 PANUM, Peter Ludvig (1820 – 1885)
Untersuchungen über die Entstehung der Missbildungen Zunächst in den Eiem der Vögel.
The first monograph on experimental teratology.
GMN 534.62 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1825
1866 –1868 ELLIOT, Daniel Giraud (1835 – 1915)
The new and heretofore unfigured species of the birds of North America. 2 vols.
Elliot described his aims for this work in the preface: "Since the time of Wilson and Audubon, no work has been published upon American Ornithology, containing life-size representations of the various species that hav…
GMN 12476 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14709
1868 DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809 – 1882)
The variation of animals and plants under domestication. 2 vols.
Darwin carried out numerous investigations with pigeons and various plants. He recognized continuous and discontinuous variation; he concluded that crossing tends to keep populations uniform.
GMN 224.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4405
1868 HUXLEY, Thomas Henry (1825 – 1895)
On the animals which are most nearly intermediate between birds and reptiles.
Huxley proposed a close relationship between birds and dinosaurs after the discovery in Germany of the primitive fossil bird Archaeopteryx. He made detailed comparisons of Archaeopteryx with various prehistoric reptil…
GMN 9351 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11533
1868 KENNEDY, Alexander William Maxwell Clark (1851 – 1894)
The birds of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire: A contribution to the natural history of the two counties.
The first book on ornithology illustrated with original photogaphs. In this case the four photographs were also hand-tinted. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 13197 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15458
1871 HARTING, James Edmund (1841 – 1928)
The ornithology of Shakespeare. Critically examined, explained, and illustrated.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 13216 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15480
![DIOSCORIDES, Pedanius [Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης] (40 – 90)](/media/portraits/2028)
![BELON, Pierre [Pierre Belon du Mans; Petrus Bellonius Cenomanus] (1517 – 1564)](/media/portraits/9632)
