A critical biography of the early modern Italian naturalist. The Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi was a prolific writer, polymath, and prodigious collector who amassed the largest collection of naturalia in sixteenth-century Europe, as well as hundreds of colored drawings detailing them. Many of these drawings found their way into his illustrated publications, most of which were published posthumously. This book provides a concise yet comprehensive portrait of Aldrovandi, paying particular attention to two aspects: the role that the newly discovered continent of America played in his research interests, and his study of abnormalities of physiological development in organisms. Peter Mason gives insight into Aldrovandi’s fascinating life, his early work on antiquities, his natural history and other collecting activities, his network of correspondents and patrons, and the influence and legacy of his collection and publications.

Aldrovandi on Chickens, written in 1598, is the first English translation of any work by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi. It exemplifies the spirit and the letter of Renaissance science--the former, in the extensive classical references; the latter, through careful examination of every process involved with the raising or use of chickens. Aldrovandi discusses such concepts as artificial stimulation of egg production, culling, and flock behavior. He traces reproduction in great detail from the competition of sperm in the oviduct to the position of the developed chick. The author directs himself particularly to the chicken's beneficial effects on human life. In addition to recipes, he lists remedies concocted from chickens for many diseases, and the prescriptions provide a fascinating glimpse of the medical practices of the time. The chicken family, Aldrovandi suggests, is an admirable example of unity for the human family--provided the rooster's extraordinary lustfulness is not emulated. As the well-known Italian zoologist Alessandro Ghigi points out in his foreword to this translation, Aldrovandi on Chickens contributes substantially to the history of science and the study of ornithology. The author's genius and unique style make the book an important representative of one of the golden ages of the intellect.

In 1500 few Europeans regarded nature as a subject worthy of inquiry. Yet fifty years later the first museums of natural history had appeared in Italy, dedicated to the marvels of nature. Italian patricians, their curiosity fueled by new voyages of exploration and the humanist rediscovery of nature, created vast collections as a means of knowing the world and used this knowledge to their greater glory. Drawing on extensive archives of visitors' books, letters, travel journals, memoirs, and pleas for patronage, Paula Findlen reconstructs the lost social world of Renaissance and Baroque museums. She follows the new study of natural history as it moved out of the universities and into sixteenth- and seventeenth-century scientific societies, religious orders, and princely courts. Findlen argues convincingly that natural history as a discipline blurred the border between the ancients and the moderns, between collecting in order to recover ancient wisdom and the development of new textual and experimental scholarship. Her vivid account reveals how the scientific revolution grew from the constant mediation between the old forms of knowledge and the new.

In 1971 I published a review of ichnology other concentrating only on traces made (Houston AAPG: SEPM Trace Fossil Field by a certain group of organisms, regardless Trip Guidebook) that I thought could be of their setting. Nevertheless, needless re dundancy has hopefully been eliminated. expanded rather easily into a worthwhile Some of the chapters are more special book on the subject. I probed that possi ized than others (because of the nature of bility for a while, thinking that I would particular topics); hence, these may be write the book myself. As I began to out somewhat less familiar or "comprehensible" line the chapters in more detail, however, than others-depending upon the reader's it soon became apparent that my personal own interests and background. Other dif knowledge of too many facets of ichnology ferences in the scope and content of vari scraped bottom all too soon. I quickly de ous chapters stem from the simple fact cided that a better book could be produced that a considerably greater backlog of pre by soliciting specific contributions from vious work is available in certain facets of other workers who, collectively, had first ichnology than in others. But we hope hand experience with virtually every aspect that all of the chapters will prove to be use of the field. That became the actual plan, ful to anyone wishing to delve 'into them. the result of which is this book.

The first full-length study of the impact of the discovery of the Americas on Italian Renaissance art and culture, Imagining the Americas in Medici Florence demonstrates that the Medici grand dukes of Florence were not only great patrons of artists but also early conservators of American culture. In collecting New World objects such as featherwork, codices, turquoise, and live plants and animals, the Medici grand dukes undertook a “vicarious conquest” of the Americas. As a result of their efforts, Renaissance Florence boasted one of the largest collections of objects from the New World as well as representations of the Americas in a variety of media. Through a close examination of archival sources, including inventories and Medici letters, Lia Markey uncovers the provenance, history, and meaning of goods from and images of the Americas in Medici collections, and she shows how these novelties were incorporated into the culture of the Florentine court. More than just a study of the discoveries themselves, this volume is a vivid exploration of the New World as it existed in the minds of the Medici and their contemporaries. Scholars of Italian and American art history will especially welcome and benefit from Markey’s insight.

International Exchange in the Early Modern Book World presents new research on the movement and exchange of books between countries, languages and confessions. It explores commercial networks and business strategies, and the translation and circulation of literature, music and drama.

This volume considers Italy's history and examines how Italians became fascinated with the New World in the early modern period.