Two parts in one volume. [8] (including added engraved pictorial title), 748, [28], 159, [7] pp. Engraved decorative title by G.B. Coriolano, numerous fine woodcuts in the text, (many full-page). (folio), 36x25 cm, (14¼x10"), original brown calf, raised bands, gilt. First Edition.

Published posthumously, Monstruorum Historia freely mixes the real with the fabulous. The second part, "Paralipomena Accuratissma Historiae Omnium Animalum..." by Bartholomew Amrosini, is the 1642 first edition - it was reissued in 1657. It has a separate title-page, registration and pagination. "Although Aldrovandi is not identified with any revolutionary discoveries, his work as a teacher and as the author of volumes that constitute an irreplaceable cultural patrimony earns him a place among the fathers of modern science. Perhaps most importantly he was among the first to attempt to free the natural sciences from the stifling influence of the authority of textbooks, for which he substituted, as far as possible, direct study and observation of the animal, vegetable, and mineral worlds." DSB, pp. 108-110. Lacks the final blank leaf.