Conrad  Gesner (1516-65), a Swiss natural historian who may be called 'a modern Pliny' and is best known for his Historia Animalium, applied his scientific methodology to produce the first systematic bibliography since Gutenberg.  After doing the round of Italian and German libraries, Gesner, at the age of 25, decided to produce a bibliography of all the printed books ever published in Greek, Latin and Hebrew.  The outcome, published four years later, was the Bibliotheca Universalis which included more than 12,000 items with his commentary.  It was followed by the Pandectarum, which classified these books according to subject matter into twenty categories, and by Appendix Bibliothecae which added a further three thousand items.  T.F. Dibdin respectfully referred to him as the 'father of bibliography'.            

     The major achievements of Conrad Gesner can be divided into four categories: the editing of dictionaries and writings of the classical era; editing works by authors of later periods; studies of literary history and philology; and writings on nature science.  TheThierbuch is his major work in the last category.  Publications of the present edition, which is of immense value, extended over the turn of the seventeeth century.  Elaborately painted by contemporary artists, this immense work consists of four volumes: the first devoted to 'Mammals' (1606), the second 'Birds' (1598), the third 'Fish' (1598), and the last to 'Serpents and Monsters'(1599).