Historia animalium (Gessner book)

Historia animalium ("History of the Animals"), published in Zurich in 1551–1558 and 1587, is an encyclopedic "inventory of renaissance zoology" by Conrad Gessner (1516–1565).

[1] The animals are presented in alphabetical order, marking the change from Middle Ages encyclopedias, or "mirrors" to a modern view of a consultation work.

[2][page needed] The Historia animalium was Gessner's magnum opus, and was the most widely read of all the Renaissance natural histories.

The generously illustrated work was so popular that Gessner's abridgement, Thierbuch ("Animal Book"), was published in Zurich in 1563, and in England Edward Topsell translated and condensed it as a Historie of foure-footed beastes (London: William Jaggard, 1607).

[7][8] Gessner was aware of fakery in the curio shops market, where dried rays were manipulated to look like dragons (for example Jenny Hanivers).

Under Pope Paul IV it was felt that the religious convictions of an author contaminated all his writings,[13] and as Gessner was a Protestant, it was added to the Catholic Church's list of prohibited books.