| Record ID | cp011691 |
| Voet reference number | 637A |
| Museum Plantin-Moretus | |
| Author | Petrus BELLONIUS CENOMANUS (BELON DU MANS) |
| Title page transcription | LES ‖ OBSERVATIONS ‖ DE PLVSIEVRS SINGVLA- ‖ ritez & choses memorables, trouuées en Gre- ‖ ce, Asie, Iudée, Egypte, Arabie, & au- ‖ tres pays estranges, Redigées en ‖ trois Liuvres, par Pierre ‖ Belon du Mans. ‖ Reueuz de rechef, & augmentez de figures auec ‖ vne nouuelle Table de toutes les ma- ‖ tieres traictées en iceux. ‖ ⊕ 2 ‖ EN ANVERS. ‖ De l'Imprimerie de Christofle Plantin, ‖ pres la Bourse neuue. ‖ 1555. ‖ Auec Priuilege. |
| Collation | 8⁰ [114]: &⁸, A-Z⁸, a-z⁸, &⁸, Æ⁸, †⁸, *⁸, □⁸; folios [1 recto-8 verso], 1 recto-375 verso, [376r-408v] (Errors: 75-76-79-78-77-80, 262 for 266, 367 for 365, 365 for 367) |
| Fingerprint | 155508 - # a1 +2 nis : # a2 +5 z$P - # 1b1 A $ : # 1b2 Z5 :$ca - # 2b1 a o : # 2b2 z3 e$ - # 3b1 & $d'$ : # 3b2 &5 re:$ - # 1c1 Æ3 es$m : # 1c2 Æ4 pitre - # 2c1 + $ : # 2c2 +4 ete - # 3c1 * de : # 3c2 *4 Mu - # 4c1 []3 yrt : # 4c2 []5 orpo |
| Number of sheets | 52.25 |
| Pages | [1 recto]: Title [1 verso]: Table (italic type) [2 recto-5 recto]: A tres-illustre et reverendissime Seigneur, François Cardinal de Tournon…Pierre Belon…(Abbey of stuivers Germain-des-Prés, Paris, 1553) [5 verso-7 verso]: Preface (italic type) [8 recto]: Nicolas Denizot du Mans, a Pierre Belon son voisin et amy [8 verso]: illustration (Portrait of the author 'anno aetatis 36'); Sonet de G. Aubert, a P. Belon du Mans (italic type) 1 recto-375 verso: Text (italic type, parts and marginals in roman type) 375 verso: De l'imprimerie de Christofle ‖ Plantain. [376 recto]: Privilege (Brussels, 20 August 1555, signed by De Zoete) [376 verso]: Blank [377 recto-386 verso]: Table (italic type) [387 recto-408 verso]: Index (on two columns) |
| Edition information | |
| Illustrations | 45 woodcuts, in varying dimensions, showing mostly plants and animals, together with some [very crude] maps, representations of people (Egypt, Turkey), and a portrait of the author: on folios [8 verso] (portrait of the author, 'anno aetatis 36'), 4 verso, 17 recto, 18 verso, 26 recto, 28 verso, 42 recto, 56 verso, 70 recto, 72 recto, 77 recto (= for 79 recto), 95 recto, 96 verso, 97 verso, 132 recto, 140 recto, 141 recto, 159 recto. 165 verso, 167 recto, 170 recto, 184 verso, 188 verso, 189 recto, 189 verso, 192 recto, 194 recto, 210 verso, 212 recto, 217 recto, 218 recto, 221 recto, 236 recto, 262 recto, 268 verso, 293 verso, 294 recto, 317 verso, 318 recto, 327 recto, 360 recto, 367 verso, 372 recto, 372 verso, 374 verso. Many bear the monogram of the woodcutter Arnold Nicolai. They are copied from the Parisian edition of Belon's Observations |
| Copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus - R 22.18Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience AntwerpKBR Royal Library of BelgiumGhent University LibraryBritish Library LondonBibliothèque nationale de FranceBibliothèque de l’ArsenalPostel Abbey |
| Bibliographical references | Ruelens-de Backer, pages 8-9 (1555, no. 3) G. Atkinson, La littérature géographique de la Renaissance, I, 1927, no. 100 Delaunay, page 165 Nissen, C. Die Botanische Buchillustration (2. Aufl.), Die botanische Illustration, II, no. 132 Cockx-Indestege, E. Belgica typographica 289 |
| Online bibliographical references | STCV c:stcv:12917624USTC 15402 |
| Note 1 | The title renders accurately the content of the book. It is indeed not a diary of Belon's travels, but random - and interesting - notes on what the author had seen and had been interested in during his stay in the Turkish Empire, with special attention paid to plants and animals and to the customs of the inhabitants. Book I (folios 1 recto-134 verso) speaks about Crete, parts of Greece (Lemnos, Mount Athos), Macedonia, and Constantinople, and book II (folios 135 recto-301 recto) about the coasts of and the islands along Asia Minor, and about Egypt, Sinai, Palestine, Syria; book III (folios 301 verso-375 verso) details life in Asia Minor. Belon had accompanied the French royal envoy, d'Aramont, in 1546 to Constantinople by way of Crete and Greece. With an other special French royal envoy, de Fumel, he embarked in August 1547 for Egypt and visited also Sinai and Palestine. Together with d'Aramont, Pierre Gillis, and André Thevet, he followed somewhat later Sultan Suleiman in his expedition against Persia. He came back to France in 1549. |
| Note 2 | The first editions of Belon's work appeared at Paris in 1553 and 1554; both were printed by Benoist Prevost for the publishers G. Corrozet and G. Cavellat (cf. Atkinson, nos. 90 and 96). Plantin's publication is a reprint of one of these Paris editions. |
| Note 3 | Part of Plantin's edition received a title-page with the imprint of Plantin's Antwerp colleague, Joannes Steelsius. |
| Note 4 | The earliest mentions in Plantin's records are a delivery of 6 copies to Martin Nutius on 9 August 1555 for the price of 2 florins Carolus guilders 8 stuivers (Arch. 38, folio 4 verso), of 2 copies on 11 October and 4 copies on 21 October 1555 to Guillaume Symons (Arch. 38, folio 7 verso), and 1 copy - at 8 stuivers - to Jan Steelsius on 20 November 1555 (Arch. 38, folio 1 verso). The probably large order passed by Steelsius and bearing the latter's imprint is not noted in either Arch. 38 or Arch. 34. |
| Note 5 | Listed in M 296, folio 14 recto (Observations de P. Belon A⁰ 1555, f[euilles] 52¼, [price:] stuivers 8). |
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