First edition of the first volume of this celebrated treatise on birds containing magnificent full-page illustrations of numerous species, including eagles, owls, ostriches, woodpeckers, etc. Each chapter describes in great detail not only the various subspecies (appearance, geographical location, eating habits, diseases, methods of capture, etc.) but also their medicinal uses, the fables and proverbs in which they are the protagonists, the hieroglyphs and coins on which they appear, and other various topics of considerable interest. Mythological birds such as harpies are also included in the discussion.

First edition; folio (36 x 25 cm); engraved title page within elaborate architectural border, engraved portrait of the author, numerous woodcuts by Lorenzo Bennini, Cornelio Schwindt, and Jacopo Ligozzi throughout, many of which full-page, woodcut headpieces, tailpieces and initials, ink stamps to title, 18th century ink inscriptions to title and §2, occasional worming to margins, scattered light browning, spotting and soiling, bookplate to front pastedown; 18th century full vellum, spine with 4 raised bands, ms lettering to second and fourth compartments faded, slight warping to boards, moderate worming to pastedowns and endpapers; [20], 893, [56]pp.

Anker 11; Bird Art 37; Nissen IVB 18.