Monstrorum Historia

"Ulissi Aldrovandi (Aldrovandus) (1522-1605) graduated from Padua and Bologna Universities with degrees in law, philosophy and medicine and taught logic to supplement the occasional patronage bestowed on him by his cousin, the Pope.

During nearly a year of confinement in Rome while fighting a heresy charge, Aldrovandi developed a strong interest in the natural world. He began to collect all manner of specimens which apparently came to constitute a formidable natural history museum for those that visited him.

He travelled quite a bit in his quest for specimens and recorded his observations in some 4000 manuscripts, a number of which were published during his lifetime. His writings include studies in ornithology, medicine, hydrology, zoology, botany and, as can be imagined from the embellished and fantastical images here, a paper on mythical creatures as well (among others).

Aldrovandi was instrumental in establishing the botanical gardens in Bologna and his alma mater there awarded him the first Professorial chair in natural science."

• 'Monstrorum Historia' was first published in ~1642 and the cropped - and very slightly background cleaned - images above were selected from a copy hosted by the Digital Library of Strasbourg University. Although it's not really my thing, you'll find a large number of birth deformity illustrations in this volume, if that rocks your world*. (the book icon up top, on the left, gives thumbnail page views) The woodcut illustrations are by Jean-Baptiste Coriolan. [*You might also like this Guardian article: 'Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of Human Body' by Armand Marie Leroi, 2004]
• The AMS Historica site at the University of Bologna Digital Library has a number of Aldrovandi works, including the History of Monsters. {Thanks Raffaele & Andrea!!}
  
• Youtube user Shivabel has posted lots of rare book slideshows set to music (definitely worth wandering around their uploads) including 'Monstrorum Historia'.
• BNF's version of 'Monstrorum Historia' (possibly the easiest way to skim through the book)
• Previously: monsters.
  
• Aldrovandi works at Amazon.
• UPDATE : 'Monstrorum Historia' is accessible from the University of Oklahoma Libraries too (thumbnail page)