An English curate and the author of several books on religious subjects, Edward Topsell is best remembered for The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes and The Historie of Serpents.
Born in 1572, Topsell attended Cambridge before becoming a clergyman in the Church of England. He published The Reward of Religion in 1596, and Time's Lamentation in 1599. In 1604 Topsell became curate of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, a position he held until his death.
In 1607, Topsell published his magnificent illustrated work Historie of Foure-footed Beastes, Describing the True and Lively Figure of Every Beast. The book was closely based on the Historiae Animalium of Swiss author Conrad Gesner. In 1608 he followed it with The Historie of Serpents; Or the Second Booke of Living Creatures, which also drew on Gesner's Historiae. The woodcuts for both of Topsell's books came directly from Gesner's pages.
Topsell authored one more religious work in 1610 called The Householder. He served as vicar and chaplain in various areas of England until his death in about 1638.
Swiss physician, naturalist, and author Konrad (Conrad) Gesner lived from 1516 to 1565. He published four volumes of the comprehensive Historiae Animalium between the years 1551 and 1563.
The Historiae included both real and fantastical animals. Each entry described the animal from Greek, Roman, Arab, and medieval sources, and added contemporary observations. A detailed woodcut depicted each animal, some made especially for the book, and others drawn from printed sources or borrowed from scientific colleagues.
In 1658, twenty years after Topsell's death, his zoological books were reissued together as part of a three-volume work called The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents. John Rowland edited the publication, rounding out the first two volumes with The Theater of Insects by Thomas Moffet. Woodcuts from the first two volumes of Special Collections' copy of this book are featured on this website.
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