Snakes.- Topsell (Edward) The Historie of serpents; Historie of serpents. Or, The second booke of living creatures, first edition, title with woodcut illustration, thereafter numerous woodcut illustrations within text and two whole-page, woodcut initials and head-pieces, lacking initial blank and Aa5, title with paper repairs to fore- and bottom margins, P1 re-margined (no text loss), Hh6 inner margin paper repair with minor text loss, and a few other leaves with small paper repairs to blank margins, later vellum and red endpapers, upper cover a little warped, [STC 24124], folio, by William Jaggard, 1608.
⁂ A first edition copy of the first major natural history of serpents in English. Conceived to follow his 'The Historie of Foure-Footed Beasts (1607), this volume actually stands alone as a work in its own right, and commonly appears as such. As with most bestiaries of the time, Topsell's account includes real species - snakes, lizards, frogs, other reptiles and amphibians - as well as mythical creatures, such as dragons and the Herculean Hydra. The book is well known for its engaging illustrations, including for example, a chameleon and the boa constrictor eating a human baby (title).
Provenance: Alfred Barnard, possibly the British historian who specialised in the history of brewing and distillation (1837-1918) [bookplate].
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