GESSNER (Conrad). Vogelbuch, darinn die art natur unnd eigenschafft aller vöglen sampt irer waaren Contrafactur angezeigt wirdt. Zurich, Christoffel Froschouer, 1557. In-folio, half sow skin stamped on exposed wooden boards, framed with cold roulettes and fillets, traces of clasps (Binding of the period). One of the finest bird books of the 16th century. First German edition of this great ornithological treatise by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner (1516-1565), translated by Rudolf Heusslin (or Hüsli), who was a pastor in Albisrieden, Rafz and Töss. Magnificent woodcut illustration with 218 large, beautiful bird figures, including one on the title. This treatise belongs to Gessner's Historiæ animalium - "considered the basis of modern zoology" (Horblit, no. 39) - of which it forms the third book. The original Latin edition was published two years earlier by the same Zurich publisher under the title De avium natura. In it, Gessner distinguishes 217 species of birds, listed in alphabetical order and illustrated with a woodcut. He describes the external appearance of each species, its anatomy, distribution, behaviour and mythological or literary uses. A precious copy preserved in its original stamped sow-skin binding with exposed wood edges. Early manuscript marginalia in German. Nissen, IVB, n°350.