Until the 12th century, Illuminated manuscripts were produced by monks. Monasteries were the centers of learning and the books they produced were usually religious. They produced Bibles, books of Gospel, and prayer books. 

Occasionally they were commissioned by rulers or high-ranking clergy to copy historical records or Greek and Roman literature.

Since all of the books were copies of another, a monk (or more) may have needed to travel to another monastery to access the original. 

Production usually involved multiple experts. The calligraphy was often done by one person, the illustrations by another (or others), and the gold leafing by yet another. Then the book was sewn and bound. The cover might be carved from wood or ivory, or covered in embossed leather or filigree or gems. Special clasps and corners could be the work of a metalsmith.

With the rise of universities and a growing middle class, book production started to have commercial value and was done by others. A bookseller would receive an order, then hire a production team. Most scribes could write in a few different styles, and the purchaser would select the style. The range of topics expanded to include anything related to natural history, literature, fiction, travel tales, and more. 

The Hortus Sanitatis is one of the earliest printed publications on nature and popular medicine. It mimicked earlier medicinal illuminated manuscripts called herbals and combined descriptions of rocks and minerals and countless species of mammals, birds, and fish  and their medicinal uses and preparations. It also includes mythical animals, superstitions, treatments based on the doctrine of signatures, and some medical treatments that require parts of imaginary beings. The animal illustrations were stylized and not intended for use in species identification.

It was published first by Peter Schofer in 1484 with the title “Herbaria,” and a year later by Jacob Meydenbach with the title Hortus Sanitatis. A foreword in the first edition says, “Here follows the book of nature which treats first the peculiarities and nature of man, then of the nature and the properties of the heavens, of beasts, of birds, of plants, of stones and of many other natural things.” 

Konrad Gessner (1516- 1565)

The study of zoology in Europe remained fairly stagnant until the 16th century. One of the most impactful contributors to the field was Konrad Gessner. Like his contemporaries, he was influenced by Aristotle's writing and used it as basis for his own research.

Gessner was a prolific writer and is considered the father of modern zoology. (we've discussed his contributions in botany)

His greatest contribution to the study of nature was his Historia Animalium, a 5 volume encyclopedia that attempts to describe all animals known (at least by Europeans) by 1565, based on a combination of his own research and information from old sources, such as the Old Testament, Aristotle, Pliny, folklore, and earlier bestiaries, as well as species recently discovered in the New World and East Indies.

He also incorporated information acquired from contemporary naturalists, though he could not always confirm the accuracy of their contributions.

One of the challenges that he and his contemporaries faced was identifying similar species based on centuries of varied and sometimes conflicting descriptions or illustrations. Through the centuries of copying and translating, there were countless misunderstandings and inconsistencies. The task of 16th century naturalists was to find the reliable portions of these texts and to determine exactly which species was being described. Before the period of exploration that allowed easier access to animals on other continents, naturalists relied on descriptions written by travelers who weren't trained in the methods used by naturalists .

Gessner worked from first hand observation, conducted dissections, and compared his observations to the written word. He tried to sort the real from the imaginary in the work of the ancients, but made some mistakes of his own. Narwhal horns had been mistaken for unicorn horns by many naturalists, and after combing through the Bible and classical and medieval writings on the subject, he accepted the horns as proof of the unicorn's existence. (this belief persisted until the 19th century)

He even included a section on distinguishing a real horn from a fake and repeated the claim that the horn could cure epilepsy or counteract poison.

for more on Gessner's unicorn

and more images from his book found here

Gesner included the names and etymology of each animal in multiple languages; epithets and metaphors for each; sounds each made; and observations on diet, habitat, and behavior. He described the variation in similar species found in different locations and discussed all of the ways that the animals have been incorporated into human culture. He included the uses, medicinal uses or nutritional value of various animals, and instructions on slaughter and cooking. He also included unproven theories on animal traits, for example, that elephants love their own country, worship the sun, moon, and stars, are chaste, and hate mice. 

The illustrations were created by a number of illustrators, including Gessner, but only one received credit- an artist named Lucas Schan. Gessner did the majority of the illustrations in the bird volume.

Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605)

Ulisse Aldrovandi.

Aldrovandi was a monumental figure of the evolution of science during the Renaissance.

Aldrovandi described himself as a modern-day Aristotle and wrote over 400 books on natural history, though just a small fraction were published. However, his 13 volume series on the natural world was published and included three volumes on birds, three on quadrupeds, and the rest included serpents and dragons, mollusks and crustaceans, fish, insects, trees, fossils, and monsters. 

The drawings, paintings, and wood engravings were created by a number of artists.

Aldrovandi studied philosophy, logic, medicine, and law became the first professor of natural history at the U of Bologna, where he helped establish a botanical garden for research. 

He also amassed a collection of at least 18,000 specimens, acquired from European explorations of Asia, Africa, and the New World. Much of the naturalia was donated by fellow naturalists who were impressed by his knowledge and eager to contribute to one of the largest collections of the century. His museum served an important role in the development of taxonomy.

He spread knowledge of and curiosity about the natural world through his teaching, his massive collection of naturalia, and his role in founding the botanical garden and was an important source of information for his contemporaries.

read about his entanglement in religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics here

He compiled 13 volumes on natural history that covered birds; insects; mollusks and crustaceans; fish; mammals; minerals; serpents and dragons, and creatures from folklore and legend. He included information on the distribution of species and the various names for each species; their dietary and medicinal uses; details of sexual habits and reproduction; and cultural references- such as their image used on coins, emblems, or heiroglyphs; and reference to them in verse or prose. 

The publication of the series was an enormous collaborative effort between collectors, transcribers, and illustrators. He commissioned artists to illustrate every specimen in the book and oversaw the production, which involved draftsmen, woodcutters, and painters.

His wife, Francesca Fontana, was a crucial partner in his research. She researched texts for him to cite, wrote some sections of his books and did the editing and shared responsibilities in the writing of On the Remains of Bloodless Animals, published after his death. 

In fact, little of his writing was published during his lifetime- it was the collection that made him famous.

Andrea Alciato, aka Alciati, developed the emblem, which originally consisted of a title or motto and an epigram (a brief, often clever or humorous description written in verse). The texts frequently included morals and were inspired by Aesop's fables, the natural philosophies of Pliny and Aristotle, and Medieval bestiaries. Alciato used puns and allusions, and sometimes presented conflicting ideas or layers of symbolism. His intention was to inspire interpretation, conversation, and amusement among his readers.

A collection of his writings were published in 1531, under the title Emblemata. Without his permission, the publisher added illustrations to the text, thereby establishing the three-part emblem that countless other writers would imitate over the next several decades. Emblemata inspired a new genre, and emblem books on a vast array of secular and religious themes were published across Europe, such as birds and mammals; devotion and prayer; love and romance; alchemy; family crests; weaponry; and much more.

The majority of Alciato's emblems were not related to plants and animals, but they reflected the ongoing belief that humans could find moral instruction by observing animal behavior. The "emblematic" or symbolic meanings were more important to the European Christians of this era than the biological particulars. Contemplating images of nature could reveal the multiple hidden meanings of the cosmos.

The two most influential naturalists of the era, Conrad Gessner and Ulisse Aldrovandi, often included Alciato's writings in their encyclopedias on the natural world.

pleasure viewing: Symbolorum & Emblematum ex Animalibus by Joachin Camerarius, inspired by Alciato

Pierre Belon (1517-1564)

Georges-Louis Leclerc, aka Comte du Buffon (1707- 1788)

Georges -Louis LeClerc, aka the Compte du Buffon, was a prominent naturalist of the 18th century.

He came from a wealthy family and inherited a significant amount of wealth when his mother died, which enabled him to buy a position in King Louis the XVI's court, working as director of the King’s Garden. 

Among his duties was to oversee the cataloguing of the king's collection. While working on the descriptions, LeClerc developed his own theories on natural history, and published a book on natural history Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particuliere . He covered all categories of natural science that were studied at that time, including physics, chemistry, technology, material science, and of course, the natural history of animals.

Le Clerc noticed in his travels that despite similar environments, there were important variations in similar flora and fauna from one place to the next and theorized that a species might improve or decline once it left its original point of creation. 

He never developed a cohesive explanation, but he recognized the connection between species variations and geography, which Darwin explained as adaptation several decades later.

In the mid-18th century, LeClerc pointed out the similarities between men and apes and suggested that the Earth may be older than stated in the Bible. the church publicly demanded that he retract these statements, but there were no consequences when he didn't.

The illustrations were created by multiple artists, the most famous of whom is Jacques de Seve. His etchings depict the birds and animals in theatrical landscapes, adding elegance, drama, and scale, even if not scientifically accurate. De Seve's landscapes use details to allude to the continent where the animal might be found, such as geographical features, famous ruins or cities, or people in native costumes.  

The inclusion of a more detailed landscape  or background in natural history illustration emerged during the 15th century and by the 18th century was common practice.

Cuvier studied fossils and was the first to recognize that some animals no longer existed, which contradicted the understanding of nature and creation as static.

He demonstrated that the fossilized bones belonged to extinct species and reconstructed some of the lost species in his book, Discours sur les Revolutions du Globe. This book proposed that a series of catastrophic events on the earth’s surface caused the sudden extinction of animals.

He dissected and drew almost all forms of animal life and established the foundations of vertebrate paleontology and comparative anatomy. He was influenced by the work of botanist Antoine-Laurent de Jussiue, who demonstrated that not all the characteristics of plants were of equal significance in classifying them and applied that to zoology to create a new system of classification.

He discovered the illustrations of Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle as a youth and then devoured the writings of Linneaus and Aristotle, and began researching and writing about the animal kingdom. He was a prolific writer and formulated a classification system of the animal kingdom that is as important as Linnaeus’ work on plants.

He was appointed as professor of animal anatomy of the natural history museum in Paris and created an immense collection of over 16,000 specimens, which were arranged to show the relationships between form and function, rejecting the notion of the Great Chain of Being. His collection inspired several imitations in museums around Europe.

He held several very important positions, including perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences and was given several official posts in education and science under Napoleon.

His understanding of comparative anatomy was key to his extraordinary discovery- he recognized that the teeth of fossil mammoths found in Siberia were not elephants, as previously believed, but that of the woolly mammoth- an extinct species. 

He also identified other extinct species, including the Pterodactyl and a large marine lizard called a Varans.

He separated the animal kingdom into the following groups:

Vertebrates

Articulata (arthropods)

Mollusca (mollusks)

Radiata (starfish, jellyfish, etc.)

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672-1733) 

was a Swiss naturalist and author of Kupfer-Bibel, aka Physica Sacra, which covered plants, animals, and natural phenomena mentioned in the Bible. The book was published around 1735 and was intended to demonstrate its authenticity through the lens of natural history.

MENAGERIES 

Evidence of keeping menageries or zoos dates as far back as 1150 BCE to the Chinese emperor Wen Wang, who kept a 900 acre "Park of Knowledge" that held assorted species of deer, birds, and fish. There are also descriptions of such menageries in ancient Egypt, Greece, Persia, and the Aztec empire.

Lorenzo the Magnificent receives the tribute of the ambassadors by Giorgio Vasari and Marco da Faenza (Palazzo Vecchio fresco) (1556–58)

Article: Jews, Giraffes, and the Italian Renaissance (from the Katz Center at U Penn)

elephants