Lot 160: ALDROVANDUS, Ulysses (1522-1605). [ Opera ]. Bologna: 1606-1645, 9 works in 6 volumes, 2o (354 x 230mm), comprising:

De quadrupedibus solidipedibus volumen integrum. Bologna: V. Benatio, 1616. Engraved title by and after J.B. Coriolano, 12 woodcuts. FIRST EDITION. Nissen ZBI 72. [ Bound with :] De quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis libri tres et de quadrupedibus digitatis oviparis libri duo. Bologna: N. Tebaldino for M.A. Bernia, 1645. Engraved title by and after J.B. Coriolano, 130 woodcuts. Third edition. BMNH I, p. 27; Nissen ZBI 77. Quadrupedum omnium bisulcorum historia. Bologna: J.B. Ferronio [for M.A. Bernia], 1642 [colophon, unchanged from the first edition, dated 1621]. Foliation: [3], 1040, [12]pp. Engraved title by J.B. Coriolano, 77 woodcuts. (Occasional overall browning, Ss1r and Ss6v soiled, colophon leaf with slight tears at inner margin.) Second edition. BMNH I, p. 27; Nissen ZBI 76. De piscibus libri V et de cetis liber unus. Bologna: N. Tebaldino [for M.A. Bernia], 1638. Engraved title, 400 woodcuts. With final blank. (Colophon leaf with old paper repair affecting vignette on recto.) Third edition. With 28 index pages at end. BMNH I, p. 26 (26 index pages); Nissen ZBI 70. [ Bound with :] De reliquis animalibus exanguibus libri quatuor. Bologna: J.B. Bellagamba, 1606. Engraved title, c. 600 woodcuts. (Lacking one preliminary leaf with portrait.) FIRST EDITION. With 29 index pages at end in conformity with other copies. BMNH I, p. 26 (26 index pages); Nissen ZBI 68 (calling for 30 index pages). Serpentum et draconum historiae libri duo. Bologna: C. Ferronio, 1640 [colophon dated 1639]. Engraved title by Coriolano, 61 woodcuts. With final blank Qq4. (Lacking 2 preliminary leaves, index leaves waterstained.) FIRST EDITION. BMNH I, p. 27; Nissen ZBI 78. [ Bound with :] De animalibus insectis libri septem cum singulorum iconibus ad vivum expressis. Bologna: C. Ferronio, 1638. Engraved frontispiece by A. Salmincio, c. 720 woodcuts. Third edition. BMNH I, p. 26; Nissen ZBI 66. Monstrorum historia. Bologna: N. Tebaldino, 1642. Part one only (of 2). Engraved frontispiece, 366 woodcuts. (Frontispiece slightly torn at inner margin, Ooo6v slightly soiled, small hole at margin of final leaf.) FIRST EDITION. BMNH I, p. 27; Nissen ZBI 74. Ornithologiae tomus alter [ tomus tertius ]. Bologna: N. Tebaldino, 1634-1637. Volumes II-III only. Foliation: II. [8], 862, [60]pp. including final blank; III. [10], 560, [24]pp. including final blank. Engraved title to both volumes, c. 525 woodcuts. (Volume III [?]lacking portrait.) First published 1599-1603, this edition is unrecorded in Nissen. It is without the portrait of the author found in volume III of the first edition. cf. Nissen IVB 18; Anker pp. 11-12. Uniformly-bound in contemporary vellum over wooden boards, spines lettered in contemporary manuscript and numbered 1-6, blue edges (lower corners worn). Provenance : "E L D 1685" (initials and date stamped in black on front cover of each binding) -- "AS" (crowned monogram stamped in red on titles and in gilt on upper cover of bindings) -- Joachim Gottlieb Lehmann (small engraved bookplate on some titles) -- various shelf marks, some possibly of Russian origin. A FINE SET, lacking volume I of Ornithologiae and part two of the Monstrorum historia, but otherwise including all Aldrovandus's works on natural history with the exception of the two volumes last published, Musaeum metallicum of 1648, which contains some fossils, and Dendrologiae naturalis of 1668. At the time of his death, Aldrovandus had only published four folio volumes, leaving his other works to be completed by collaborators who are named on the title pages. While he cannot be identified with any revolutionary discoveries, his works have nevertheless 'earned him a place among the fathers of modern science. Perhaps most importantly he was among the first to attempt to free the natural sciences from the stifling influence of the authority of textbooks, for which he substituted, as far as possible, direct study and observation....' (Carlo Castellani, DSB I, p. 110). The admirable cuts are largely by Cristoforo Coriolano after Lorenzo Bennini, the Florentine court painter Giacomo Ligozzi, and Cornelius Swinte of Frankfurt. Brunet I, 155. (6).