Nature as Culture

All the illustrations exhibited suggest that Gesner wanted to have his texts and illustrations compelement each other rather than just being juxtaposed one another, filling out empty space of his book, because the illustrations are somehow self-explanatory - they both demonstrate each animals' physical traits and cultural characteristics that are all explained in their following texts, which would help readers get into deeper understanding of each animal.

Study of nature is culture in many ways: it can be a culture of Christianity, a culture of collecting, a culture of medicinal studies, a culture of ancient studies, only to mention a few. It is hard to find documentation or record that specifies the process of translation held by Edward Topsell in 1658, but it seems that Topsell's purpose was not entirely different from that of Gesner's, as Topsell himself mentioned that "...my purpose was, to shew to every plaine and honest man, the wonderfull workes of God in every beast in his vulgar tongue." (note 1) Topsell even mentions that his study of nature as his pursuit and desire for great works of God in the introcductory part "To the Reader" of his book The History of Four-footed beasts.

in Historiae Animalium, the extensive amount of texts can be devided into a certain structure that is:

A: the name of the animal in as many ancient and modern languages as possible; B: the geographic distribution of the animal; its outer and inner morphology; C: the animal’s way of living; its diseases and their curses; D: the animal’s character, instincts, vices and virtues; E: the utility of the animal towards man (in hunting, fishing, etc.); F: the animal and its parts as food; G: medicaments obtained from the animal; H: philological questions concerning the animal; tales, fable, proverbs and symbolic notions in which the animal figures. (note 2)

Among this classification, part H is one of which that is unique to Gesner's study. His texts show his study on ancient scholars such as Aristotle and Pliny the Elder as he quotes and, several times, mentions them in his texts. As Gesner once mentioned that finding and pursuing only practicality and utility out of things speaks for one's small-mindedness, his studies on nature and all things are beyond the pursuit of practicing mere observation of nature. His studies extended out to the study of ancient studies, and especially that of Aristotle, as he looked for ideal beauty even out of small things such as bees or flies. (note 3) Culture of studying adages and emblems is also a part of nature as cultural studies, because during the Renaissance period, emblematic animals and Erasmian proverbs were gaining more and more interst among people. Animals would serve instructive and emblematic functions, more than merely being living creatures. As an assiduous collecter, Gesner himself demonstrates the culture of collecting as well. Trying to be as accurate as possible, Gesner was eager to collect any texts, specimens or alive animals for better investigation of a certain animal. Gesner owned his own private library and printing places in several cities, and total number of the titles he possessed was more than 300. Among those, almost half was of humanist studies such as history, pholosophy, languages and literature. (note 4) Gesner's vast knowledge on diverse fields of studies shows that the study of nature does not, and cannot be, limited to the study of art, science, or culture. It could be both art and science at the same time, while it could also be art and culture at the same time. Therefore, It can be concluded that Conrad Gesner's Historia Animalium is enriched with his carefully selected animal illustrations and his broad knowledge on cultural, humanistic, and scientific studies, which brought about huge impact on study of natural history later on. 

Notes

note 1: Topsell mentioned this in the context that his purpose was different from that of Gesner. However, to my point of view, even though they had different interest when executing their works, they shared the idea that illustrations should not serve merely as a source of scientific observation. Acheson, Katherine. "Gesner, Topsell, and the Purposes of Pictures in Early Modern Natural Histories." Printed Images in Early Modern Britain: Essays in Interpretation ;. By Michael Hunter. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publ., 2010. 127-44. Print.

note 2: This organization of structure was directly excerpted from Gmelig-Nijboer's Conrad Gessener's "Historia Animalium." However, titling each label can be varied as they were not executed by Gesner but by scholars afterwards. All Gesner did was to mark those in alphabetical order. Gmelig-Nijboer, Caroline Aleid. Conrad Gessner's "Historia Animalium": An Inventory of Renaissance Zoology. Meppel: S.n., 1977. Print.

note 3: Fischel, Angela. "Collections, Images and Form in Sixteenth‐Century Natural History: The Case of Conrad Gessner." Intellectual History Review 20.1 (2010): 147-64. Web.

note 4: Leu, Urs B., et al. Conrad Gessner's Private Library. Leiden: Brill, 2008. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 2 May 2014.