De anima brutorum commentaria

By

Soldini, Francesco Maria, , author
Soldini, Francesco Maria.

Cambiagi, Gaetano, , printer

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

Excudebat Florentiae, Cajetan. Cambiagi, anno 1776

Notes

Author's name from dedication.

Engraved title page, printed à la poupée in blue and reddish-brown.

Author's name from dedication (page [1], 1st group).

Engraved title-page, plates, and decorative initials. Title-page and plates printed in blue, initials printed in blue or red.

Errata: p. 256.

Imprint from colophon.

Epigraph on title page: "Curiosum nobij [correctly, nobis] Natura ingenium dedit. Seneca de Vita Beata cap. 32." The quotation actually comes from chapter 5 of Seneca's De otio.

Collation: 8vo: engraved title + [pi]1 a-q⁸ [$2 signed]; 129 leaves, pages [2 unnumbered] 1-256 + 8 unnumbered plates. The preliminary leaf contains the dedication (verso blank).

Signatures: pi1 a-q⁸.

The text pages have decorative borders.

Brunet, | V, column 427

The 8 anonymous etched plates may be printed in blue or reddish brown; one copy (sold by Christie's in 2006: sale 1769, lot 470) has 2 in ochre and 6 in green and ochre à la poupée). The etched initials are printed in blue or reddish brown; in some copies the plates, placed as apparently intended at the beginning of each chapter, are printed in the opposite color.

On the plates as evidence of "the extent to which evolutionary ideas circulated during the Enlightenment" see F. Barbagli, "In retrospect: the earliest picture of evolution?", in Nature 462 (19 November 2009), page 289. Barbagli notes that "the iconographical content of the images is independent from the writing."

Errata on final page.

NUC pre-1956, | v. 555, p. 361

Subjects

18th century , A la poupée prints , Animal behavior , Animal intelligence , Color , Early works , Early works to 1800 , Engravings , Etchings , Evolution , Italy , Psychology, Comparative

Call Number

QL785 .S7255 1776

Language

Italian

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.112342
LCCN: https://lccn.loc.gov/2003586319
OCLC: 53019892
Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q51388748