{"product_id":"aldrovandi-monstrorum-human-deformities-1640","title":"Aldrovandi — Seven Folio Leaves of Human Deformities and Monstrosities from the Monstrorum Historia, Bologna 1642","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoPlainText\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Courier New';\"\u003eSeven folio leaves from Ulysses Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historia (Bologna, 1642), drawn from the chapters on monstrous births, hairy children, hybrid creatures, and infants born with conditions that early modern medicine struggled to explain. Each leaf is printed on both sides, giving fourteen pages of original text and woodcut illustration in total.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the most powerful section of the entire Opera Omnia for collectors interested in the history of medicine, the early modern category of the \"monstrous,\" and the porous boundary between teratology and natural philosophy that defined the discipline before Linnaeus. The illustrations include some of the most reproduced images from any early scientific book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Plates included**\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePage 127: Homo cornutus — the horned man\u003cbr\u003ePage 571: Infans canine — child with canine features\u003cbr\u003ePage 572: Hermaphrodite figure with eagle feet\u003cbr\u003ePage 579: Aethiops \u0026amp; Virgo villosa — depicting an Ethiopian child and the Hairy Maiden, the figure widely identified by historians of medicine as a member of the Gonsalvus family\u003cbr\u003ePage 586: Monstrum capitio carnoso — figure with a fleshy growth on the head\u003cbr\u003ePage 587: Homuncio cum substantia carnosa — figure with fleshy substance about the chest\u003cbr\u003ePage 589: Infans cute lacerata — infant with torn skin\u003cbr\u003ePage 590: Equus cute lacera — horse with torn skin (included as a comparative case)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlus accompanying letterpress on the verso of several leaves, including the discussion on page 580 that explicitly references \"Henricus, King of the Gauls, having a hairy man educated in Latin at Paris\" — a documented allusion to Petrus Gonsalvus of Tenerife, whose family is associated by some scholars with the development of the Animal Bridegroom folk tale tradition that includes Beauty and the Beast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Key Details**\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Ulysses Aldrovandi (1522–1605)\u003cbr\u003eEdited by: Bartholomaeus Ambrosinus\u003cbr\u003ePublished: Bologna, Nicolas Tebaldini, 1642\u003cbr\u003eFrom: Monstrorum Historia cum Paralipomenis historiae omnium animalium\u003cbr\u003eMedium: Original 17th-century woodcuts on laid paper\u003cbr\u003eFormat: Seven folio leaves, each printed both sides (recto and verso)\u003cbr\u003eSize: Approximately 24 × 36 cm (9.5\" × 14\") each\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Very good, with crisp impressions and only light age toning consistent with the period\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Provenance**\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom a broken-up library copy of the 1642 Bologna edition, formerly in the collection of Eduardo Obejero Urquiza per ex libris evidence. The lithographed bookplate itself does not accompany these leaves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Scholarly Note: The Hairy Maiden and the Gonsalvus Family**\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Virgo villosa on page 579 depicts a young woman with hypertrichosis universalis — a condition causing dense hair growth across the entire body. The accompanying Latin text on page 580 explicitly identifies the source: a hairy man brought to the French court of Henri II to be educated in Latin at Paris, and his children kept at the Farnese court at Parma. This documents the case of Petrus Gonsalvus, born in Tenerife in 1556, who lived at the French and Parmese courts and whose affected daughter Antonietta was painted by Lavinia Fontana around 1583 in a portrait now held at the Château de Blois.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Gonsalvus family is associated by some historians of folklore with the development of the Animal Bridegroom story type that culminated in Madame de Villeneuve's 1740 tale of Beauty and the Beast. This Aldrovandi leaf is therefore not simply a medical illustration but a documented sixteenth-century witness to one of the most consequential cases in the history of human variation — a case that left traces in court portraiture, in Latin natural history, and arguably in European fairy tale tradition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Tax \u0026amp; Buyer Protection**\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVAT-exempt: Over 100 years old, original print\u003cbr\u003eTracked shipping, full insurance\u003cbr\u003e28-day return policy\u003cbr\u003ePayPal Buyer Protection eligible\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lumenrare Antique Prints \u0026 Maps","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57414079185279,"sku":"ALD-MONS-DEFORMITIES-1640-SET7","price":1195.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0951\/8356\/9279\/files\/aldrovandi-seven-folio-leaves-of-human-deformities-and-monstrosities-from-the-monstrorum-historia-bologna-1640-8603170.jpg?v=1778604961","url":"https:\/\/lumenrare.com\/products\/aldrovandi-monstrorum-human-deformities-1640","provider":"Lumenrare Antique Prints \u0026 Maps","version":"1.0","type":"link"}