The Elizabethan zoo: A book of beasts both fabulous and authentic

by Pliny the Elder, Edward Topsell, Philemon Holland (Translator)

A book of beasts both fabulous & authentic.

This enchanting adaptation of Elizabethan natural history introduces many fabulous beasts, familiar only through myth and folk tales, and presents some old familiar friends in a decidedly different light. Composed of extracts from Edward Topsell's histories (Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes, 1607, and Historie of Serpents, 1608) and supplemented by material taken from Pliny's Natural History (translated by Philemon Holland, 1601), this book presents a fascinating picture of how seventeenth-century man perceived the world. It is not our world but one where mythical creatures, wild beasts, and domestic animals wander together. No distinction is made between the real and the imaginary. Cats and gorgons, hyænas and unicorns - all are treated with equal seriousness.

This is one of man's first attempts to shape zoology into comprehensive and exact form. Though some of it is nonsense, it is fascinating to see just how accurate so many of the descriptions are. Amid old wives' tales and legend, there lies a solid core of empirical truth. The result is a marvelous potpourri of mediæval credulity, scientific fact, hearsay and myth - all guaranteed to delight and astound.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

171 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Gaius Plinius Secundus (23 AD – August 25, 79 AD), better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. Spending most of his spare time studying, writing or investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field, he wrote an encyclopedic work, Naturalis Historia, which became a model for all such works written subsequently. Pliny the Younger, his nephew, wrote of him in a letter to the historian Tacitus:

"For my part I deem those blessed to whom, by favour of the gods, it has been granted either to do what is worth writing of, or to write what is worth reading; above measure blessed those on whom both gifts have been conferred. In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions."

Pliny the Younger is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncle's now missing work on the History of the German Wars. Pliny the Elder died on August 25, 79 AD, while attempting the rescue by ship of a friend and his family from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that had just destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The prevailing wind would not allow his ship to leave the shore. His companions attributed his collapse and death to toxic fumes; but they were unaffected by the fumes, suggesting natural causes.

Reviews

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always been intrigued by animals and their place within human history for not only do they provide food and/or competition to us but they were some of the earliest teachers to our ancestors. At the same time our ancestors didn't quite know the truth about these animals as much as our scientific community claims for us now and yet their world of knowledge is fascinating.

Within this book you will find a mixture of animals given by certain top scientific men of their times so there are quite specific facts that have been confirmed by us that they knew about, there are also the more mythic stories that they believed in like elephant-eating dragons or salamanders being able to live in fire, and finally also the inclusion where the animals were paradigms for virtuous or non-virtuous lives for the devout to imitate.

What I found interesting within this particular book is the fact that for the most part it wasn't translated from the Elizabethan language in which the main contributor Topsell wrote his entries. Given this the reader will find the spellings of words is quite different even though the word isn't even five words away from the last time it was used although in a unique spelling (bison, byson). Fortunately for many readers even with the difference of English used the writing is still easy to understand for the most part with only a few spots or names such as the Bugill, which may cause some reading problems.

For other trouble spots there are also quite a lot of Latin quotes used but the reader has been provided with translations of these either within the text itself or in easy-to-read but complete notes for each chapter that can be found in the back. Definitely a lifesaver for me as I love to know what I am attempting to read even if I don't speak the language.

Finally this book also has for the majority of entries sketch illustrations although a bit stylized to help the reader in knowing what animals they may or may not be reading about. Unfortunately there were a few entries, again the Bugill, in which there were no illustrations so I was quite happy when I figured out the animal in question, especially since the internet couldn't even really tell me what a Bugill was.

All in all it is a bit of a deep read although the reading material was deeply cut. This will be the type of book for armchair travelers and amateur zoologists who like to know the ties of early humans and animals to each other while absorbing the not quite so factual aspects, which leads this book to being a bit more of a mythic bestiary, especially with its more fabulous included creations.

[Maxine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book. It's a collection of excerpts from some of the earliest forms of zoological studies in Europe, written in Ancient Greece and Rome and then rewritten in Elizabethan England. While the information written it is is archaic and outdated (and at times fantastical), it's a really fascinating look at how early scientists viewed the animals they observed or had heard about.

But, since the text hasn't been updated since the Elizabethan period, and the English language has changed a lot in the past few centuries, a lot of the text is very hard to read. Spelling and grammar aren't remotely what most modern readers are used to, and there are plenty of words that I had to look up to see what they meant. There are also words and even whole passages in Latin, often without any in-book translations. I don't feel that this is a detriment to the book or anything (if anything, I like how raw it feels) but it made it hard to read, and anyone who wants to read this book should just be aware of that beforehand.

But if you want an academic textbook to tell you about the differences between mountain dragons and marsh dragons, the proper way to hunt unicorns, how elephants breed, how lions behaved in the wild vs when they were kept as pets by wealthy Romans, and how to properly whelp a manticore cub, then this is the book for you.