16th-century leaf with four illustrations, three showing monsters that result from the mixing of species from Ambroise Paré's Monsters by Ambroise Paré - 1585

Paris: Chez G Boun, 1585. Unbound. Very good. This leaf (M.XLIX-M.L) measures approximately 8.25" x 12.5" and came from the 1585 printing of Les Oeuvres d'Ambroise . . . Des Monstres. The images are strong. The leaf has some minor soiling and edge-wear. The four images on this leaf show (roughly translated from Paré's French) 1) the monster produced by the union of a man and a pig, 2) the product of a shepherd and a goat that he loved, 3) a child that appeared to be half-dog and half-bird, and 4) a three-headed sheep. Paré, the French royal surgeon for many years, was the preeminent surgeon of his time and is considered one of the fathers of surgery and modern forensic pathology as well as a pioneer of surgical techniques, battlefield medicine, and prosthetic design. He additionally had a scholarly interest in natural history, especially reports of "miraculous" or "monstrous" creatures and malformed births.