Les Obseruations de Plusieurs Singularitez et Choses Memorables...

by Pierre Belon. Paris, 1554.
This work is the narrative of a French naturalist's travels in the Middle East in the 16th century, presenting to Western eyes the earliest illustrations of a giraffe and other wonders; the original vellum cover on our copy, now very dry and stiff, is a "re-cycled" Arabic manuscript. The pages of this important work will need to be specially cleaned and flattened, and the broken binding re-sewn, using materials and methods appropriate to the book's period, to reduce stress on the structure.