''De Historia Piscium'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for 'Of the History of Fish') is a scientific book written by

Francis Willughby Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, ) Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithology, ornithologist, ichthyology, ichthyologist and mathematician, and an early student of linguistics an ...

and

John Ray John Ray Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (November 29, 1627 – January 17, 1705) was a Christian England, English Natural history, naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his ...

and published by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1686. The book was the first illustrated work on

ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

to be published in England.

Creation

Francis Willughby began work on ''De Historia Piscium'' in 1663. Willughby and Ray travelled together on a tour of Europe to study the natural world prior to the beginning of the production of the book. The book was completed by John Ray after Willughby's death in 1672. Ray's motivations have been linked to the wider aims of the Royal Society, namely to recover knowledge lost after the

Fall of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

Content

Willughby, and later Ray, produced a system within ''De Historia Piscium'' which would allow for the definition, classification, and identification of fish using external features. One of the main features of the book was its extensive illustrations, financed by subscriptions to the Society, but still a huge cost. The cost of the illustrations was the principal cause of the excessive expense of the publication of the book, which ultimately put serious strain on the Society's finances.

Failure and unpopularity

It was unpopular and sold poorly, causing severe strain on the finances of the society. This resulted in the society being unable to meet its promise to finance the publication of

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: People * Newton (surname), including a list of people with the surname * ...

's ''

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on ...

'' ("''Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy''", better known simply as ''Principia''), leaving this to

Edmond Halley Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; – ) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720. From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, Hal ...

, who was then the clerk of the society. After Halley had personally financed the publication of ''Principia'', he was informed that the society could no longer afford to provide him the promised annual salary of £50. Instead, Halley was paid with left-over copies of ''De Historia Piscium''.

Notes

External links

Scanned images of ''De Historia Piscium'' 1st ed.
1686 non-fiction books 1686 in science 1686 in England Zoology books Illustrated books Ichthyological literature History of the Royal Society {{zoology-book-stub