| Record ID | cp012053 |
| Voet reference number | 639 |
| Museum Plantin-Moretus | c:lvd:893132 |
| Author | Petrus BELLONIUS CENOMANUS (BELON DU MANS) |
| Title page transcription | PETRI BELLONI ‖ CENOMANI, ‖ PLVRIMARVM SINGVLARIVM ‖ & memorabilium rerum in Græcia, Asia, ‖ Ægypto, Iudæa, Arabia, aliisq'. exteris Pro- ‖ uinciis ab ipso conspectarum Obser- ‖ uationes, tribus Libris ‖ expressæ. ‖ CAROLVS CLVSIVS ATREBAS ‖ è Gallicis Latinas faciebat. ‖ ⊕ 29 ‖ ANTVERPIÆ, ‖ Ex officina Christophori Plantini, ‖ Architypographi Regij. ‖ M.D.LXXXIX. |
| Collation | 8⁰ [131]: *⁸, A-Z⁸, a-h⁸; pages [1-16], 1-495, [496] (Errors: 6 not numbered, 8 for 89, 384-401-386-387-404-405-390-391-408-409-394-395-412-413-398-399-416-401) |
| Fingerprint | 158908 - # a1 *2 $ab$ : # a2 *5 si$m - # 1b1 A $n : # 1b2 Z5 am$di - # 2b1 a um : # 2b2 h5 one$ |
| Number of sheets | 32 |
| Pages | [1]: Title [2]: approbation (Antwerp, 8 February 1589, signed by Michael Hetsroey Bruegelius); Privilege (Brussels, 20 August 1555, signed by De Zoete) [3-4]: Illustrissimo…domino Mauritio, W.F. landgravio Hassiae, comiti in Catzenelbogen, Dietz, Zigenhain, et Nidda, etc.…(Nuremberg, 13 November 1586, signed by Carolus Clusius Atrebas) [5-10]: Illustrissimo…Francisco cardinali à Turnone…Petrus Bellonius…(Abbey of stuivers Germain-des-Prés, Paris, 1553; italic type) [11-15]: Praefatio [16]: De Petri Bellonii observationibus a Carolo Clusio donatis Latio, carmen…F.F.F. Raphelengius (italic type) 1-495: Text (italic type, parts in roman type) 495: Errata [496]: Blank |
| Edition information | |
| Illustrations | 43 woodcuts in varying dimensions, copied for the greater part from the 1555 French edition. Of the 45 illustrations in the 1555-edition the portrait of the author has not been retained; the two small illustrations, on folio 317 verso and folio 318 recto, are replaced by a single one in the 1589-edition [page 421]; for 6 plants (pages 6, 93, 255, 258, 291, 475) and one animal (page 493) blocks were used from herbals and similar works printed by Plantin in the previous years. On pages 6, 23, 25, 35, 38, 55, 73, 90, 93, 103, 124, 126, 128, 174, 185, 187, 210, 218, 220, 224, 244, 249, 250, 251, 255, 258, 280, 282, 289, 291, 295, 314, 347, 355, 405 (= for 389), 390, 421, 433, 475, 485, 490 (2 illustrations), 493. See also in the Notes |
| Copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus - A 606KBR Royal Library of BelgiumCambridgeGhent University LibraryKB National Library of the NetherlandsUL LiègeBritish Library LondonBiblioteca Nacional de España |
| Digital copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus: A 606 |
| Bibliographical references | Ruelens-de Backer, page 322 (1589, no. 24) Bib. Belgica (1964–1970 éd.), I, page 221 Delaunay, page 165 (giving erroneously the year 1579) Cockx-Indestege, E. Belgica typographica 290 Bib. Belgica (1964-1970 éd.) B 123 |
| Online bibliographical references | STCV c:stcv:12921525USTC 402196 |
| Note 1 | Latin translation by Carolus Clusius of cp011691, in order to make this valuable book accessible to those ignoring the French language (he added a few notes, printed at the end of each corresponding chapter, in roman type). In the foreword of 13 November 1586, in which he explains his reasons for the publication, Clusius states also that he did make the translation the year before (1585). |
| Note 2 | In a letter of 12 March 1587 to Clusius (Correspondance de C. Plantin, VIII-IX, no. 1224) Plantin affirms to hesitate issuing the publication: he is financially so pressed that he cannot print anything at his own expenses and he had not yet found someone willing to share the expenses. Anyhow, out of affection for Clusius, he would try to find the necessary paper and print the work in 4⁰ 'pour les pouvoir joindre avec vos autres oeuvres que m'avés escrit revoyeriés cest hiver…' (the Bellonius was ultimately printed in 8⁰). Plantin acknowledges in the same epistle the reception of a letter of Clusius of 30 January [1587] with 'la seconde copie de la dedicatoire'. The publication, however, dragged on. In a letter of 19 November 1588 Plantin apologizes first for having not printed the corrected French Belon (meaning to all probability a French version revised by Clusius which the botanist had also urged him to print) but letting it at the same time be understood that he had no intention at all to publish it, and then for the long delay in printing the Latin version, but he could now send some sheets and hopes to have finished the work for the next Frankfurt Fair (Lent 1589) ('Ce qui est la cause aussi [= lack of money] pour quoy je n'ay imprimé le Belon en françois corrigé et que j'ay differé le Latin iusques a present que je l'ay mis soubs la presse comme voyés par ces feuilles que je vous envoye avec espoir que je l'acheveray pour ceste foire prochaine': Supplément Correspondance de C. Plantin, no. 214. See also M. Sabbe, 'Uit de briefwisseling van Clusius met Chr. Plantin en J. Moretus' in Uit het Plantijnsche huis, Antwerp, 1924, pages 57-59, who discusses the letters of 12 March 1587 and 19 November 1588). |
| Note 3 | In the same letter of 12 March 1587 interesting details are given about the illustrations. Clusius must have expressed the wish to reproduce the woodcuts as given in the 1555-publication, but Plantin tried in vain to recover the wood-blocks of his 1555-edition, sold at the auction of his press in 1562. He was forced to give Clusius's French edition to Pieter van der Borcht to copy the illustrations ('…ne mesmes recouvrer les figures des observations qu'un personnage de ceste ville m'avait promis faire vendre par celuy qui les achapta a la vendue qui fut faicte de mes biens a la licorne, ce que voyant j'ay baillé vostre copie françoise a Peeter van der Borcht pour les pourtraire de re chef…'). The illustrations of 1589 are, consequently, in reverse of the ones of Plantin's 1555-edition. The woodblocks were cut (all or in part) by Gerard Janssen van Kampen, who received in 1588 for 24 blocks, at 15 stuivers a piece, 18 florins Carolus guilders (Arch. 110, opening 113 right). In fact, not all the 1555-illustrations were copied: for six plants (pages 6, 93, 255, 258, 291, 475) and one animal (page 493) blocks were used from herbals and similar works published by Plantin in the preceding years. |
| Note 4 | This Latin translation was reprinted in Clusius, Exoticorum libri decem, Leiden, Officina Plantiniana apud Raphelengium, 1605. |
| Note 5 | Plantin didn't ask for a new privilege but contended himself with reproducing the old one for the French version, dated 20 August 1555. This unusual procedure may perhaps be explained by the fact that he anticipated some trouble at Brussels, as Clusius, residing then in Germany, was rather suspect in the eyes of many government officials. |
| Note 6 | Listed in M 296, folio 2 recto (Bellonii Petri observationes Lat. 1589, f[euilles] 32, [price:] stuivers 10), and M 321 (under 1589). |
| Further reading |
in The Plantin Press Online
(1,162 words)
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Full Text Views | 14 | 14 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 0 | 0 | 0 |
in The Plantin Press Online
(1,162 words)