PISO, Willem (1611-78) & others. De Indiæ utriusque re naturali et medica, Amsterdam, 1658, 3 parts in one volume, folio, additional pictorial title, illustrations, contemporary vellum. Provenance: John Yudkin (bookplate). Second enlarged edition.

PISO, Willem (1611-78) & others.  De Indiæ utriusque re naturali et medica. Libri quatuordecum, Quorum contenta pagina sequens exhibet. Amsterdam: "Apud Ludovicum et Danielem Elzevirios," 1658. 3 parts in one volume, folio (360 x 230mm). Elaborate additional engraved pictorial general title, fine woodcut initials and ornaments, tables, woodcut illustrations (L6 torn at margin without loss, O3 torn and repaired with very slight loss, some mainly marginal browning, spotting and staining, some darker spots). Contemporary full vellum, the title in early manuscript to spine (upper joints split, some staining, inner hinges split before the dedication, corners bumped, later endpapers). Provenance: From the Collection of Professor John Yudkin (modern bookplate; please see the biographical note at the end of lot 308); modern pencil annotation on the front free endpaper and rear pastedown. Second, and significantly enlarged, edition of this work on the natural history and medicine of Brazil, based on the author's experience as a physician living in a Dutch settlement there from 1633 to 1644. Two works, not included in the first edition of 1648, are included as an integral part of this edition, although they are separately paginated: they are listed at the front under the general heading "Autores et tituli librorum, qui hoc volumine exhibentur". These are Georg Marcgraf's [his name with variant spellings] Tractatus topographicus & meteorologicus Brasiliæ, cum eclipsi solari; quibus additi sunt illius & aliorum commentarii de Brasiliensum & Chilensium indole & lingua ([Amsterdam, 1658]), which contains a diagram of an eclipse and the first meteorological observations in the Americas, and Jacob Bontius's Historiæ naturalis & medicæ Indiæ orientalis ([Amsterdam, 1658]). Incorporated into the additional engraved pictorial title is an illustration of a Dodo which, officially, became extinct some 40 years after this edition's publication, although the last widely accepted recorded sighting was in 1662, only four years after: it is tempting, therefore, to speculate that this may be among the last representations of a Dodo which could have been drawn 'from life'. Borba de Moraes II, 153; Brunet III, 755 (listed under "Pison"); Garrison & Morton 1825; Hunt 280: "Second edition, enlarged; first published with the title Historia Naturalis Brasiliae, Leiden, 1648"; Nissen BBI 1533; Nissen IVB 589; Pritzel 7157; Sabin 63029; Willems 1236; Wood p.520.