Author: Urs B. Leu (Zürich Central Library)
Publisher: Brill, 2023
The Zurich polymath Conrad Gessner (1516–1565) is known as the founder of zoology and plant geography, the father of bibliography, editor of ancient texts, and author of one of the most important paleontological works of the sixteenth century. While preparing his extensive work on plants, he died unexpectedly and early from the plague.
Gessner’s interest in the natural sciences was rooted, on the one hand, in the new conception of nature that emerged with the Renaissance, and, on the other hand, in the creation theology of the Reformation, which considered nature as a second book of God’s revelation next to the Bible. This richly illustrated and erudite biography is the first biography of Gessner to appear in English.
Contents
Preface
Abbreviations
List of Illustrations and Tables
1 Early Years
2 The Traveling Student
3 Marriage and Medical Studies
4 Three Happy Years in Lausanne
5 Montpellier
6 Lyon
7 Doctorate in Basel
8 Return to Zürich
9 Professor of Natural Sciences
10 The World of Books
11 Augsburg Intermezzo
12 The Animal Books – A Renaissance Noah’s Arc
13 Philological Works
14 Second Stay in Augsburg and the Imperial Grant of Arms
15 Botany
16 Medicine and Pharmacology
17 Freaks, Monsters and Northern Lights
18 Earth Sciences
19 Testament and Estate
Appendix 1: Gessner’s Testament
Appendix 2: Additions to Gessner’s Private Library
Appendix 3: Gessner’s Correspondence
Literature
Index of Names