The first use of the Microscope. STELLUTI. Persio tradotto in verso sciolto. STELLUTI, Francis. Persius translated in loose verse. Rome, Giacomo Mascardi, 1630 In 4to. 210x218 mm. Full leather binding with morocco gusset at spine, marbled guard sheets. Pages [24, including engraved frontispiece], 218, [20]. Engraved frontispiece by Matthaeus Greuter, a portrait of Persius and six figures in the text, including one full-page, ornate friezes and initials. On verso of last paper errata and letterpress mark. Fine copy. Rare figured first edition. This is the first work to contain images of organisms seen through the microscope. Of note are Stelluti's engraved representations of the anatomy of the bee and the weevil. Garrison-Morton: "First book to contain illustrations of natural objects as seen through the microscope, specifically an engraving of the exterior surface of bees. "Freedburg: "The full-page image of a magnified bee (p. 52), showing minute details of the antennae, legs, sting, head and tongue, "still has the capacity to arouse the wonder of modern experts." On page 127 is a smaller illustration of a magnified grain weevil, including a detail of the tip of the insect's snout and mandibles. This translation by Francesco Stelluti of the works of the Latin poet Persio is dedicated to the powerful cardinal Francesco Barberini in an attempt to obtain the patronage of the cardinal for the Accademia dei Lincei." In the extensive notes Stelluti also discusses the discoveries of Galileo and Della Porta: it also turns out that this is the first printed book in which the word "microscope" appears, coined a few years earlier by the Lincei for an instrument invented by Galileo. Garrison-Morton 259; Nissen ZBI 3988; Cinti 86; NLM/Krivatsy 8806; Wellcome I:4917. Ford, Images of Science: A History of Scientific Illustration, pp. 172-173, 179-180. Freedburg, The Eye of the Lynx: Galileo, His Friends, and the Beginnings of Modern Natural History (2003). In 4to. 210x218mm. Full leather binding with morocco label on the spine, marbled endpapers. Pages [24, including engraved title page], 218, [20]. Titlepage engraved by Matthaeus Greuter, a portrait of Persius and six figures in the text, one of which full-page, ornaments and decorated initials. On the verso of the last leaf, errata and printer's device. Fine copy. Rare first illustrated edition. This is the first work that contains images of organisms seen through the microscope. Of notable importance are the representations engraved by Stelluti of the anatomy of the bee and the weevil. Garrison-Morton: "First book to contain illustrations of natural objects as seen through the microscope, specifically an engraving of the exterior surface of bees. "Freedburg: "The full-page image of a magnified bee (p. 52), showing minute details of the antennae, legs, sting, head and tongue, "still has the capacity to arouse the wonder of modern experts." On page 127 is a smaller illustration of a magnified grain weevil, including a detail of the tip of the insect's snout and mandibles. This translation by Francesco Stelluti of the works of the Latin poet Persio is dedicated to the powerful cardinal Francesco Barberini in an attempt to obtain the patronage of the cardinal for the Accademia dei Lincei." In the extensive notes Stelluti also speaks of the discoveries of Galileo and Della Porta: it also appears that this is the first printed book in which the word "microscope" appears, coined a few years earlier by the Lincei for an instrument devised by Galileo. Garrison-Morton 259; Nissen ZBI 3988; Cinti 86; NLM/Krivatsy 8806; Wellcome I:4917. Ford, Images of Science: A History of Scientific Illustration, pp. 172-173, 179-180. Freedburg, The Eye of the Lynx: Galileo, His Friends, and the Beginnings of Modern Natural History (2003).