BELON Pierre L’Histoire de la nature des oyseaux, avec leurs descriptions, & naïfs portraicts retirez du naturel : escrite en sept livres…

Frank, I, 68-69 ; Thiébaud, 65-66 ; Souhart, 45 ; Mortimer, French, 50 ; Nissen, IVB, 86 ; Ronsil, 189 ; Zimmer, 52 ; Delaunay, La Zoologie au XVI^e siècle, pp. 267-268 (note) ; Renouard (Cavellat), 81 ; Brun, p. 119 ; Aug. Bernard, Geofroy Tory, p. 320 ; see DSB, pp. 595-596, & Daumas, Histoire de la science, p. 1172.

First edition of the first scientific French work on ornithology, containing a very important chapter on falconry.

The work is divided into seven books, each headed by an individual title. The books treat the anatomy and physiology of birds, then in more detail birds of prey, aquatic birds (sea and river), chickens, crows and related specimens, and finally songbirds.

Chapter two contains an extremely important treatise on falconry. The description of birds of prey is the subject of very detailed explanation. This kind of hunting was in fashion during the 16^th century. Originating in the Middle East and mostly practiced by the Persians and the Arabs in the Middle Ages, it was introduced in the West by the Crusaders. Frederick II published a very important treatise about falconry.

The most immediately striking aspect of Belon’s work is its bird illustrations. These are copious (160 scattered among the final six books), quite large, and beautifully detailed. As suggested by the title, most do indeed appear to have been drawn from life, rather than from dead specimens or copied from existing woodcuts. There is in this book no portrait, Belon declares in the [introduction], of any bird that had not been ‘before the eyes of the painters’. In fact, he adds in a sideswipe at his contemporaries, he has left some birds without images, as he did not want them painted unseen, ‘as some modern [writers] have done with animals’. The illustrations were not the work of Belon himself, but of a number of artists, most of them anonymous; only one, Pierre Goudet (or Gourdelle), is acknowledged by name in the preface. Belon appears to have commissioned his portraits directly from the artists and his influence can be seen in their unity of style.

The vast majority of the portraits are of birds in a standing position; a few, such as the eared owl and the great swallow, are shown in flight. A number of the aquatic birds are displayed on the water, the motion of their feet always clearly visible. Many are depicted with their prey: the wagtail with an insect in its beak and the heron having captured a lizard. Belon’s buzzard and vulture both grasp unfortunate rabbits in their claws, and a kestrel feasts on a large snake, the tail of which is wound round the bird’s own. The human world makes only occasional appearances, such as the falconers of Book One and the ship passing in the distance behind the spoonbill of Brittany.

Belon was among those natural historians who benefited from the practice of bird-keeping in the sixteenth century. This practice was particularly valuable at the time in that it allowed for close observation that would otherwise have been impossible, given the absence of binoculars. Of course, one still had to observe the behaviour of birds in the wild and to this end this Belon added to the existing, written accounts not only the evidence of his own eyes but also the reports of others, including the ordinary inhabitants of the countryside.

Auguste Bernard attributes the portrait of Belon as well as seven engravings depicting birds to Geofroy Tory (see : Geoffroy Tory Peintre et graveur, premier imprimeur royal, Paris, 1865).

“Belon can be considered the originator of comparative anatomy. By the same token, he depicted a porpoise embryo and set forth the first notions of embryology. Belon enriched the biological sciences by new observations and contributed greatly to the progress of the natural sciences in the sixteenth century. His learning was not derived solely from books. He was one of the first explorer-naturalists; and between 1546 and 1550 he undertook long voyages through Greece, Asia, Judaea, Egypt, Arabia, and other foreign countries. Belon discarded the bases of the comparative method and was not all afraid of drawing parallels between human and bird skeletons. He was the first to bring order into the world of feathered animals distinguishing between raptorial birds, field birds, etc.” (DSB).

“One of the earliest works dealing entirely with birds. The subject is discussed from a variety of aspects. Book 1 (pp. 1-180) is of general nature and, among other things, presents a comparison between the skeletons of birds and men- probably (according to Newton’s Dictionary of Birds) the first published account of this subject. Book 2 (pp. 81-148) discusses ‘la nature des oyseaux vivant de rapine’ ; 3, ‘des oyseaux vivants de long des rivières, ayants le pied plat’ ; 4, idem ‘qui ont le pied plat’ ; 5, ‘des oyseaux de campagne, qui ont leurs nids sur terre’ ; 6, ‘des oyseaux qui habitent indifféremment’ ; and 7, ‘des oysillons, qui hantent les hayes, buschettes, & buissons'” (Zimmer).

Other than the scientific interest, Belon also describes the culinary virtues of poultry.

“Belon apprécie, pour chaque type, les qualitez et temperaments que leur consommation apporte au corps humain. S’appuyant sur le De alimentum facultatibus de Galien et sur la théorie des humeurs, il souligne par exemple combien les palmipèdes, toujours au contact de l’eau, ont une chair humide et excrémenteuse qui épaissit le sang et digère mal… Il détaille aussi les habitudes alimentaires et l’ordonnancement des repas selon les pays, les religions et les classes sociales” (Livres en bouche).

Fine, broad margined copy (binding slightly restored; some occasional slight foxing).