Galápagos giant tortoise
Date
1688
Creator
Richard Waller (1660 - 1715, British) , Naturalist
After
the elder Le Clerc (1637 - 1714, French) , Artist
Object type
Library reference
57977
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (page): 300mm
width (page): 200mm
height (print): 205mm
width (print): 155mm
width (page): 200mm
height (print): 205mm
width (print): 155mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Zoological and anatomical study of a Galápagos giant tortoise, Chelonoidis niger, referred to here as a ‘Great Indian tortoise’. Shown in left profile in front of some woodland and a building. Above are isolated studies of various of its internal organs, including: heart, liver, kidneys and bladder.
Inscribed above: ‘pa. 250’
Written in the associated explanation: ‘This Tortoise has several particularities, which do render it different from those that we have in France. Its shell is not flat, but very convex. It has but one Shell to cover its Back and Belly. Its Tail is fur∣nished with a Horn at the end. Its Paws are not covered with Scales, but with a Skin wrinkled like Spanish Leather. Its Claws are not sharp, but blunt and half worn away, and its Jaws toothed like a Saw.’
Unnumbered plate from a translated edition of Charles Perrault’s Memoires pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des animaux: Memoir's for a natural history of animals containing the anatomical descriptions of several creatures dissected by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, Englished by A.P. (London, 1688). A work of comparative anatomy featuring specimens from the Royal menageries at Vincennes and Versailles.
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) was a French author, naturalist and member of the Académie Française. The translator (‘A. P’), Alexander Pitfeild (c.1658-1728), was a merchant and Fellow of the Royal Society, elected in 1684, Council Member throughout the late 17th century and Treasurer between 1700-1728.
Inscribed above: ‘pa. 250’
Written in the associated explanation: ‘This Tortoise has several particularities, which do render it different from those that we have in France. Its shell is not flat, but very convex. It has but one Shell to cover its Back and Belly. Its Tail is fur∣nished with a Horn at the end. Its Paws are not covered with Scales, but with a Skin wrinkled like Spanish Leather. Its Claws are not sharp, but blunt and half worn away, and its Jaws toothed like a Saw.’
Unnumbered plate from a translated edition of Charles Perrault’s Memoires pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des animaux: Memoir's for a natural history of animals containing the anatomical descriptions of several creatures dissected by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, Englished by A.P. (London, 1688). A work of comparative anatomy featuring specimens from the Royal menageries at Vincennes and Versailles.
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) was a French author, naturalist and member of the Académie Française. The translator (‘A. P’), Alexander Pitfeild (c.1658-1728), was a merchant and Fellow of the Royal Society, elected in 1684, Council Member throughout the late 17th century and Treasurer between 1700-1728.
Associated place