Edward Topsell

Edward Topsell

Edward Topsell (c. 1572 –1625) was an English cleric and author best remembered for his bestiary.

Topsell attended Christ's College, Cambridge, earned his B.A. and probably an M.A. as well, before beginning a career in the Church of England. He served as the first rector of East Hoathly, and subsequently became the perpetual curate of St. Botolph's in Aldersgate (1604). He was the author of books on religious and moral themes, including "The Reward of Religion" (1596) and "Time's Lamentation" (1599), among others.

Topsell's "The History of Four-footed Beasts" (1607) and "The History of Serpents" (1608), both published by William Jaggard, were reprinted together as "The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents" in 1658. An eleven-hundred-page treatise on zoology, Topsell's work repeats ancient and fantastic legends about actual animals as well as reports of mythical animals. Topsell, not a naturalist himself, relied on earlier authorities, most notably the "Historiae animalium" of the Swiss scholar Conrad Gessner. "I would not have the Reader," Topsell writes, "... imagine I have ... related all that is ever said of these Beasts, but only [what] is said by many." [http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1586.htm]

Topsell's work is remembered chiefly for its detailed and vigorous illustrations, including the famous image known as Dürer's Rhinoceros. The illustrations have been widely reproduced in many contexts, and Topsell's bestiary has been reprinted in various modern editions, usually in greatly reduced form.

uperstitions about actual animals

Topsell, repeating ancient legends, assigns exotic attributes to actual animals. He writes, for example, that:

*Weasels give birth through their ears.
*Lemmings graze in the clouds.
*Elephants worship the sun and the moon and become pregnant by chewing on mandrake.
*Apes are terrified of snails.

Of the procreation of mice, Topsell writes that it "is not only by copulation, but also nature worketh wonderfully in ingenduring them by earth." [http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1586.htm]

Fantastic animals

Relying on the authority of "sundry learned men," Topsell includes the Gorgon, the Sphinx, the Manticore, the Lamia, the Winged Dragon and the Unicorn.

External links

* [http://info.lib.uh.edu/sca/digital/beast/index.html Topsell's The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents Web site]
* [http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1586.htm Topsell’s Beasts]
* [http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/treasures/t-topsel.html USL Rare Books: TOPSELL, Edward. The History of four-footed beasts and serpents]
* [http://www.library.rdg.ac.uk/colls/special/featureditem/topsell/ Page at University of Reading]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Edward Topsell — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Una imagen de Papilio machaon, de History, de Topsell Edward Topsell (1572 1625) fue un clérigo naturalista inglés famoso por su bes …   Wikipedia Español

  • Edward Topsell — Illustration d’un machaon extrait d’History of Four Footed Beastes (1658) Edward Topsell est un naturaliste britannique, mort en 1638. Œuvre Il fait ses études au Crist’s College de Cambridge en 1587 et obtient son Bachelor of …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Liste De Zoologistes —  Attention, il n est pas d usage en zoologie d utiliser d abréviation pour les noms des auteurs (contrairement aux usages de la botanique, voir ici). Cette liste ne constitue pas une liste officielle. Nous attirons l attention du lecteur sur …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Liste de zoologiste — Liste de zoologistes  Attention, il n est pas d usage en zoologie d utiliser d abréviation pour les noms des auteurs (contrairement aux usages de la botanique, voir ici). Cette liste ne constitue pas une liste officielle. Nous attirons l… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Liste de zoologistes — Attention, il n est pas d usage en zoologie d utiliser d abréviation pour les noms des auteurs (contrairement aux usages de la botanique, voir ici). Cette liste ne constitue pas une liste officielle. Nous attirons l attention du lecteur sur son… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Liste des zoologistes par leur abréviation d'auteur — Liste de zoologistes  Attention, il n est pas d usage en zoologie d utiliser d abréviation pour les noms des auteurs (contrairement aux usages de la botanique, voir ici). Cette liste ne constitue pas une liste officielle. Nous attirons l… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • William Jaggard — (c. 1568 ndash; November 1623) was an Elizabethan and Jacobean printer and publisher, best known for his connection with the texts of William Shakespeare, most notably the First Folio of Shakespeare s plays. Jaggard s shop was at the sign of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Elephant intelligence — Elephants are among the world s most intelligent animals. With a mass just over 5kg, elephant brains are larger than those of any other land animal, and although the largest whales have body masses twentyfold those of a typical elephant, whale… …   Wikipedia

  • Historiae animalium (Gesner) — Historiae animalium ( Histories of the Animals ) published at Zurich in 1551 58 and 1587, is an encyclopedic work of an inventory of renaissance zoology [Gmelig Nijboer, Caroline Aleid. Conrad Gessner s Historia animalium : an inventory of… …   Wikipedia

  • Amphithere — Amphiptere, Edward Topsell (1608). Eine Amphithere ist ein mythologisches Wesen und stellt eine Drachenart dar, die den Körper einer Schlange und gefiederte Flügel haben soll. Angeblich sollen seine Federn mehr kitzeln als alles Andere. Besonders …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”