Fine Natural History Hispanica: First Spanish Translations of Pliny´s Historia Naturalis |Almost Unknown in US Libraries: Traduccion de los libros de Caio Plinio Segundo de la historia natural de los animales / hecha por el licenciado Geronimo de Huerta... y anotado por el mesmo...; Primera parte.

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Libro Nono de Caio Plinio Segundo, de la Historia Natural de los pescados del mar, de lagos, estanques, y ríos. Hecha por el Licenciado Gerónimo de Huerta medico, y filosofo. Madrid, Pedro Madrigal, 1603.

2 vols: [4], 314, [6] h.; [4], 156 fol., 8l of indexes. Modern identical bindings in full leather. Some marginal restorations, not affecting text.

NOTABLE first editions of the first translations in Spanish of Pliny's Natural History; it was not until 1624 and 1629 that the complete work, consisting of 37 "books.", was published. The translator, Geronimo de la Huerta was a Spanish physician, poet, translator and humanist

FIRST WORK: First edition in Spanish, extremely rare, as no COPIES are found in US Libraries. Contains the translation of books VII and VIII of of Pliny's "Naturalis historia". Book VII discusses the human race, covering anthropology and ethnography, aspects of human physiology and assorted matters such as the greatness of Julius Caesar, outstanding people such as Hippocrates and Asclepiades, happiness and fortune. Zoology is discussed in Book VIII.

*Palau y Dulcet (2 ed.); 229066

# WorldCat: NO copies in US Libraries

SECOND WORK: First edition in Spanish, translation by Gomez de Huerta of book IX of Pliny's "Naturalis historia". This is the second part of a projected translation of books VII-XI of Pliny's work. In the Libro Nono, in addition to the translation of book IX (Zoology), the translator Gómez de la Huerta adds annotations in many articles where he explains what Plinio said and exposes his own knowledge in great detail about the families of animals that live in the aquatic environment, with special attention to fish, although other animals such as cephalopods, oysters or starfish are also analyzed.

* Palau y Dulcet (2 ed.); 229068; Perez Pastor, C. Bib. Madrileña; II, 878

# WorldCat: one copy in US Libraries (Penn).

The Natural History (Latin: Naturalis Historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day and purports to cover all ancient knowledge. The work's subject area is thus not limited to what is today understood by natural history; Pliny himself defines his scope as "the natural world, or life". It is encyclopedic in scope, but its structure is not like that of a modern encyclopedia. It is the only work by Pliny to have survived, and the last that he published. He published the first 10 books in AD 77, but had not made a final revision of the remainder at the time of his death during the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. The rest was published posthumously by Pliny's nephew, Pliny the Younger.

The work is divided into 37 books, organized into 10 volumes. These cover topics including astronomy, mathematics, geography, ethnography, anthropology, human physiology, zoology, botany, agriculture, horticulture, pharmacology, mining, mineralogy, sculpture, art, and precious stones.

Pliny's Natural History became a model for later encyclopedias and scholarly works as a result of its breadth of subject matter, its referencing of original authors, and its index. (Wikipedia). (LL39)