Editing Conrad Gessner

{{Short description|Swiss physician, bibliographer and naturalist (1516–1565)}}
{{for-multi|the Episcopal bishop|Conrad H. Gesner|the German cyclist|Konrad Geßner (cyclist)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Conrad Gessner
| image             = Conrad Gesner by Tobias Stimmer2.jpg
| caption           = Portrait by [[Tobias Stimmer]], {{Circa|1564}}
| birth_date        = 26 March 1516
| birth_place       = [[Zürich]], [[The Old Swiss Confederacy|Swiss Confederacy]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1565|12|13|1516|3|26|df=y}}
| death_place       = Zürich, Swiss Confederacy
| resting_place     = [[Grossmünster]], Zürich
| education         = [[Carolinum, Zürich]]
| field             = [[Botany]], [[zoology]] and [[bibliography]]
| known_for         = ''Bibliotheca universalis'' and {{Lang|la|Historia animalium}}
| work_institutions =
| alma_mater        = [[University of Basel]], [[University of Montpellier]]
| author_abbrev_bot = '''Gesner'''{{sfn|Brummitt|Powell|1992}} 
}}
'''Conrad Gessner''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|ɛ|s|n|ər}}; {{langx|la|Conradus Gesnerus}};{{efn|The name has a number of spellings, including ''Konrad Gessner'', ''Konrad Gesner'', ''Conradi Gesneri'', ''Conrad Geßner'', ''Conrad Gesner'', ''Conrad von Gesner'', ''Cuonrat'' and ''Cunrat''. The single-"s" ''Gesner'' derives incorrectly from the Latin form ''Conradus Gesnerus''.{{sfn|Pyle|2000}}}} 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a [[Old Swiss Confederacy|Swiss]] physician, [[natural history|naturalist]], [[bibliographer]], and [[philologist]]. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his talents and supported him through university, where he studied classical languages, theology and medicine. He became Zürich's [[city physician]], but was able to spend much of his time on collecting, research and writing. Gessner compiled monumental works on bibliography (''[[Bibliotheca universalis]]'' 1545–1549) and zoology ({{Lang|la|[[Historia animalium (Gessner book)|Historia animalium]]}} 1551–1558) and was working on a major botanical text at the time of his death from [[plague (disease)|plague]] at the age of 49. He is regarded as the father of modern scientific bibliography, zoology and botany. He was frequently the first to describe species of plants or animals in Europe, such as the tulip in 1559. A number of plants and animals have been named after him.

==Life ==
Conrad Gessner was born on 26 March 1516, in Zürich, Switzerland, the son of Ursus Gessner, a poor Zürich [[furrier]]. His early life was one of poverty and hardship,{{sfn|Fischer|1966}} but Gessner's father realized his talents, and sent him to live with and be schooled by a great uncle, who grew and collected medicinal herbs for a living. Here the boy became familiar with many plants and their medicinal purposes which led to a lifelong interest in natural history.

Gessner first attended the [[Carolinum, Zürich|''Carolinum'' in Zürich]], then later entered the [[Fraumünster]] seminary. There he studied [[classical languages]], appearing as [[Penia]] (Poverty) in [[Aristophanes]]' ''[[Plutus (play)|Plutus]]'', at the age of 15.{{sfn|Fischer|1966}} In school, he impressed his teachers so much that a few of them helped sponsor him so that he could further his education, including arranging a scholarship for him to attend university in France to study theology (1532–1533) at the age of 17. There he attended the [[University of Bourges]] and [[University of Paris]]. Religious persecution forced him to leave Paris for [[Strasbourg]], but being unable to secure employment, he returned to Zürich.{{sfn|Fischer|1966}} One of his teachers in Zürich acted as a foster father to him after the death of his father at the [[Battle of Kappel]] (1531), another provided him with three years of board and lodging, while yet another arranged his further education at the upper school in Strasbourg, the Strasbourg Academy. There he broadened his knowledge of ancient languages by studying Hebrew. In 1535, religious unrest drove him back to Zürich, where he made what some considered an imprudent marriage at the age of 19, of a woman from another poor family who had no [[dowry]].{{sfn|Fischer|1966}} Although some of his friends again came to his aid, he was appointed to obtaining a teaching position for him, this was in the lowest class and attracted a stipend barely more than a pittance. However, he then obtained a paid leave of absence to study medicine at the [[University of Basel]] (1536).{{sfn|Fischer|1966}}{{sfn|Pettitt|2014}}

Throughout his life Gessner was interested in natural history, and collected specimens and descriptions of wildlife through travel and extensive correspondence with other friends and scholars. 
In 1543 [[Arnoldus Arlenius]] invited Gessner to Venice. Gessner travelled to Italy that same summer. He encountered  Venetian printing and a hidden world of Greek manuscripts. <ref>Nelles, Paul "Conrad Gessner and the Mobility of the Book," pp.39-66. In Bellingradt, Daniel., Paul. Nelles, and Jeroen. Salman, eds. ''Books in Motion in Early Modern Europe Beyond Production, Circulation and Consumption.'' 1st ed. 2017. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2017.</ref><ref>Sabba,F. La ‘Bibliotheca Universalis’ di Conrad Gesner: monumento della cultura europea. Conrad Gessner, 127–136. (Rome, 2012), Conrad Gessner, 127–136.</ref>

Gessner's approach to research consisted of four main components: observation, dissection, travel to distant lands, and accurate description.  This rising observational approach was new to Renaissance scholars because people usually relied completely upon Classical writers for their research. He died of the [[Bubonic plague|plague]], the year after his [[ennoblement]] on 13 December 1565.{{sfn|Murray|2009|p=89}}
==Work==

Conrad Gessner was a Renaissance [[polymath]], a physician, philosopher, [[encyclopaedist]], [[bibliographer]], [[philologist]], [[natural historian]] and illustrator.{{sfn|Pyle|2000}} In 1537, at the age of 21, his publication of a Graecolatin dictionary led to his sponsors obtained for him the professorship of Greek at [[University of Lausanne|the newly founded academy]] of [[Lausanne]] (then belonging to [[Bern]]). Here he had leisure to devote himself to scientific studies, especially botany,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} and earn money to further his medical studies.

After three years of teaching at Lausanne, Gessner was able to travel to the medical school at the [[University of Montpellier]], where he received his doctoral degree (1541) from Basel. He then returned to Zürich to practice medicine, which he continued to do for the rest of his life.  There he was also appointed to the post of lecturer of Aristotelean physics at the [[Carolinum, Zürich|''Carolinum'']], the precursor of the [[University of Zürich]].

After 1554 he became the [[city physician]] ({{Lang|de|Stadtarzt}}). In addition to his duties there, and apart from a few journeys to foreign countries, and annual summer botanical journeys in his native land, and illnesses, he was able to devote himself to research and writing. His expeditions frequently involved visits to mountainous country, below the [[snow-line]]. Although primarily for purposes of botanical collection, he also extolled mountain climbing for the sake of exercise and enjoyment of the beauties of nature. In 1541 he prefixed to his treatise on milk and milk products, ''Libellus de lacte et operibus lactariis''{{sfn|Gessner|1541a}} a letter addressed to his friend Jacob Avienus (Vogel){{sfn|Gessner|1937}}{{efn|Provincial governor and a leader of Swiss protestants{{sfn|Wellisch|1975}}}} of [[Glarus]] on the wonders to be found among the mountains, declaring his love for them, and his firm resolve to climb at least one mountain every year, not only to collect flowers, but in order to exercise his body. In 1555 he issued his narrative ''Descriptio Montis Fracti sive Montis Pilati''{{sfn|Gessner|1555}} of his excursion to the [[Gnepfstein]] (1920&nbsp;m), the lowest point in the [[Mount Pilatus|Pilatus chain]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}{{sfn|Pettitt|2014}}

Gessner is credited with a number of the first descriptions of species in Europe, both animals such as the [[brown rat]] (''Rattus norvegicus''), [[guinea pig]] (''Cavia porcellus''){{sfn|Freye|Thenius|1977}} and [[turkey (bird)|turkey]] (''Meleagris''),{{sfn|North|2015}} as well as plants such as the tulip (''[[Tulipa gesneriana]]''). He first saw a tulip in April 1559, growing in the garden of the magistrate Johann Heinrich Herwart at [[Augsburg]], and called it ''Tulipa turcarum'', the Turkish tulip.{{sfn|Grout|2017}}<ref name=gessnertulip/> He is also credited with being the first person to describe [[brown adipose tissue]], in 1551,{{sfn|Cannon|Nedergaard|2008}} in 1565 the first to document the pencil,{{sfn|Parrott-Sheffer|2008}} and in 1563 among the first Europeans to write about the effects of tobacco.<ref name="ley196512">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Ley
 |first=Willy
 |date=December 1965
 |title=The Healthfull Aromatick Herbe
 |department=For Your Information
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=88–98
 }}</ref>

=== Publications ===
[[File:Conrad Gesner - Conradi Gesneri Historia plantarum Walderbeere.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''[[Fragaria vesca]]'' (wild strawberry), from Gessner's'' [[Historia Plantarum (Gessner)|Historia plantarum]]''|alt=Drawing of wild strawberry in Historia platarum]]
Gessner's first work was a Latin-Greek Dictionary, the ''Lexicon Graeco-Latinum'' (1537),{{sfn|Gessner|1541}} compiled during his studies in Basel. This was a revision of an original work by the Italian cleric, Varinus Phavorinus or Guarino of Favera (d. 1537), ''Magnum ac perutile dictionarium'' (1523).{{sfn|Fischer|1966}}{{sfn|Wellisch|1975}} Over his lifetime he was able to produce some 70 publications on many different subjects.

His next major work was his unique ''[[Bibliotheca universalis|Bibliotheca]]'' (1545),{{sfn|Gessner|1545}} a landmark in the history of bibliography, in which he set out to catalogue all the writers who had ever lived and their works.{{sfn|Wellisch|1975}} In addition to his monumental work on animal life, the {{Lang|la|[[Historiae animalium]]}} (1551–1558),{{sfn|Gessner|1551–1558}} he amassed a very large collection of notes and [[wood engravings]] of plants, but only published two botanical works in his lifetime,  ''Historia plantarum et vires'' (1541){{sfn|Gessner|1541b}} and the ''Catalogus plantarum'' (1542){{sfn|Gessner|1542}} in four languages. It was in the last decade of his life that he began to compile his major botanical work, ''[[Historia Plantarum (Gessner)|Historia plantarum]]''. Although he died prior to its completion, his work was utilised by many other authors over the next two centuries, but was finally published in 1754.{{sfn|Gessner|1754}}{{sfn|Pettitt|2014}}

Not content with scientific works, Gessner was also active as a [[linguist]] and bibliographer, putting forth in 1555 his book entitled ''Mithridates. De differentiis linguarum [...]<!-- tum veterum tum quae hodie apud diversas nationes in toto orbe terrarum in usu sunt -->'',{{sfn|Gesnerus|1555a}} an account of about 130 known languages, with the ''[[Lord's Prayer]]'' in twenty-two languages.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He also produced edited works of a number of classical authors (''see [[#Edited works|Edited works]]''), including [[Claudius Aelianus]] (1556){{sfn|Gessner|1556}} and [[Marcus Aurelius]] (1559).{{sfn|Gessner|1559}}{{sfn|Pettitt|2014}}

A number of other works appeared after his death ([[posthumous book|posthumously]]), some long after (''see [[#Posthumous works|Posthumous works]]''). His work on insects was edited by various authors, including [[Thomas Penny]], until [[Thomas Muffet]] brought it to publication as ''Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum'' (1634),{{sfn|Muffet|1634}} finally appearing in English translation as ''The Theatre of Insects'' in [[Edward Topsell]]'s ''History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents'' (1658).{{sfn|Topsell|1658}}{{sfn|Jessop|2002}}{{sfn|Modernity|2017}}{{sfn|GDZ|2017}}

==== ''Bibliotheca universalis'' (1545–1549)====
{{main|Bibliotheca universalis}}
In 1545, after four years of research, Gessner published his remarkable ''[[Bibliotheca universalis]]'',{{sfn|Gessner|1545}} an exhaustive catalogue of all known works in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, of all writers who had ever lived, with the titles of their works, and brief annotations.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The work, which included his own bio-bibliography, listed some three thousand authors alphabetically, and was the first modern bibliography published since the invention of printing. Through it, Gessner became known as the "father of bibliography." In all, about twelve thousand titles were included.

A second part, a thematic index to the work, ''Pandectarum sive partitionum universalium libri xxi'',{{sfn|Gessner|1548}} appeared in 1548. Although the title indicated that twenty one parts were intended, only nineteen books were included. Part 20, intended to include his medical work, was never finished and part 21, a theological encyclopaedia, was published separately in 1549.

==== ''Historia animalium'' (1551–1558) ====
{{main|Historia animalium (Gessner)|l1=Historia animalium}}
[[File:Conrad Gesner - Porcupine 33.jpg|thumb|[[Porcupine]], {{Lang|la|[[Historiae animalium]]}}, 1551|alt=Drawing of a porcupine in Historia amimalium]]
Gessner's great [[zoology|zoological]] work, {{Lang|la|[[Historiae animalium (Gesner)|Historia animalium]]}},{{sfn|Gessner|1551–1558}} is a 4,500-page encyclopedia of animals that appeared in Zürich in 4 volumes between 1551 and 1558: [[quadruped]]s, amphibians, birds, and fishes. A fifth folio on snakes was issued in 1587. A German translation of the first 4 volumes titled ''Thierbůch'' was published in Zürich in 1563. This book was considered to be the first modern zoological work. It built a bridge between ancient, medieval and modern science.

In {{Lang|la|Historia animalium}} Gessner combines data from old sources, such as the Old Testament, Aristotle, Pliny, folklore, and medieval bestiaries, adding his own observations. He created a new, comprehensive description of the Animal Kingdom. This was the first attempt by anyone to describe many animals accurately. The book unlike many works of its time was illustrated with hand-colored woodcuts drawn from personal observations by Gessner and his colleagues.{{sfn|TTP|2015}}

Even though he sought to distinguish observed facts from myths and popular errors and was known for his accurate depiction of many animals in {{Lang|la|Historia animalium}}, he also included many fictional animals such as the Unicorn and the Basilisk, which he had only heard about from medieval bestiaries. But when Gessner doubted the accuracy of the opinions he relayed in his own writings, or the validity of the illustrations he included, he clearly said so. Besides any plant or animal's potential advantage to people, Gessner was interested in learning about them because of the moral lessons they could teach and the divine truths they might tell. He went into as much detail about some unreal animals as he did about real ones.{{sfn|Scott|2017}} Later in 1556 he also combined real and fictional creatures in his edition of the works of [[Claudius Aelianus]].

{{Lang|la|Historia animalium}} includes sketches for many well-known animals, and some fictional ones, including unicorns and mermaids. He accomplished many of his works in a large part due to the web of acquaintances he established with leading naturalists throughout Europe, who included [[John Caius]], English court physician to the [[Tudors]] and second founder of [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]. Not only did they send him their ideas, but also sent him plants, animals and gems. He returned the favor – and kept helpful specimens coming – by naming plants after correspondents and friends.{{sfn|Scott|2017}}

==== ''Historia plantarum'' (unfinished) ====
{{main|Historia Plantarum (Gessner)|l1=Historia plantarum}}
Over his lifetime, Gessner amassed a considerable collection of plants and seeds and made extensive notes and [[wood engravings]]. In the last decade of his life he began to compile his major botanical work, ''Historia plantarum''. although he died prior to its publication his materials were utilised by many subsequent authors for the next two hundred years. These included some 1,500 engravings of plants and their important flowers and seeds, most of which were original. The scale and scientific rigour of these were unusual for the time, and Gessner was a skilled artist, producing detailed drawings of specific plant parts that illustrated their characteristics, with extensive marginal notation discussing their growth form and habitation.{{sfn|Schulze|2006|loc=|p=38}} Finally, the work was published in 1754.{{sfn|Gessner|1754}}{{sfn|Pettitt|2014}}

==== Censorship ====
There was extreme religious tension at the time that {{Lang|la|Historia animalium}} came out. Under [[Pope Paul IV]] the [[Pauline Index]] felt that the religious convictions of an author contaminated all his writings.<ref name=DAmico46/> Since Gessner was a Protestant his works were included in this index of prohibited books. Even though religious tensions were high, Gessner maintained friendships on both sides of the Catholic-Protestant divide. In fact, Catholic booksellers in Venice protested the Inquisition's blanket ban on Gessner's books, and some of his work was eventually allowed after it had been "cleaned" of its doctrinal errors.{{sfn|Scott|2017}}

====List of selected publications====
:&nbsp;''see {{harvtxt|Wellisch|1975}}, {{harvtxt|BHL|2017}}''
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{anchor|Lexicon}}{{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Lexicon Graeco-Latinum, ex Phavorini Camertis Lexico|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVFLAAAAcAAJ|year=1541|orig-year=1537|publisher=Walder|location=Basel}}{{efn|group=note|''Lexicon Graeco-Latinum'': Commissioned by Basel printer Johannes Walder (d. 1542), who omitted Gessner's name. Reprinted 1541, followed by several later editions and revisions{{sfn|Wellisch|1975}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Libellus de lacte et operibus lactariis|date=1541a|author-mask=1}}{{efn|group=note|''Libellus de lacte'': For prefatory letter to Jacob Avienus in translation, ''On the admiration of mountains'', see [[#Works in translation|Works in translation]]{{sfn|Gessner|1937}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Historiae plantarum et vires|date=1541b|author-mask=1 }}{{efn|group=note|''Historiae plantarum et vires'': An index of plant names from texts on medical topics, by authors from [[Dioscorides]] to [[Pliny the Elder]]{{sfn|Wellisch|1975}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Catalogus plantarum Latinè, Graecè, Germanicè, & Gallicè|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFEbRQAACAAJ|date=1542|publisher=Apud Christoph. Froschoverum|location=Zurich|author-mask=1}}{{efn|group=note|''Catalogus plantarum'': Alphabetical catalogue of plant names in four languages{{sfn|Wellisch|1975}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Bibliotheca Universalis, sive Catalogus omnium Scriptoum locupletissimus, in tribus linguis, Latina, Græca, & Hebraica; extantium & non-extantium, veterum et recentiorum in hunc usque diem ... publicatorum et in Bibliothecis latentium, etc|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRIcMwEACAAJ|year=1545|publisher=Christophorum Froschouerum|location=Zurich|author-mask=1}}, ''see also'' ''[[Bibliotheca universalis]]''
* {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Pandectarum sive Partitionum ... libri XXI|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SG9MAAAAcAAJ|year=1548|publisher=Christophorus Froschoverus|location=Zurich|author-mask=1
}}, see also ''[[Bibliotheca universalis]]''
** {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Partitiones theologicae|date=1549|author-mask=1}}
** {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Appendix bibliothecae|date=1555|author-mask=1|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=[[Historiae animalium (Gesner)|Historiae animalium]]|date=1551–1558|author-mask=1}}
** 1551 ''Quadrupedes vivipares''
** 1554 ''Quadrupedes ovipares''
** 1555 ''Avium natura''
** 1558 ''Piscium & aquatilium animantium natura''
* {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Thesaurus Euonymi Philiatri|date=1552|author-mask=1}}
* {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Corpus Venetum de Balneis|date=1553|author-mask=1}}
* {{cite book|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Descriptio Montis Fracti sive Montis Pilati ut vulgo nominant iuxta Lucernam in Helvetia per Conradum Gesnerum|date=1555|author-mask=1}}{{efn|group=note|''Descriptio Montis Fracti sive Montis Pilati'': For English translation ''A Description of the Riven Mountain, Commonly Called Mount Pilatus'', see [[#Works in translation|Works in translation]]{{sfn|Gessner|1937}}}}
* {{cite book|first=Conradus|last=Gesnerus|author-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Mithridates. De differentiis linguarum [...]<!-- tum veterum tum quae hodie apud diversas nationes in toto orbe terrarum in usu sunt -->|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quptK49j-8UC|year=1555a|publisher=Froschoverus|author-mask=1}}
* {{cite book|last1=Gessner|first1=Conrad|title=In hoc volumine continentur ....De hortus Germaniae|date=1561|publisher=Iosias Rihelius|location=[[Argentorati]] |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/8036#/summary|author-mask=1}}
* {{cite book|first1=Cůnrat|last1=Geßner|first2=Cůnrat|last2=Forer|title=Thierbůch Das ist ein kurtze bschreybung<!-- so und nicht 'beschreybung' --> aller vierfüssigen Thieren [...]|date=1563}}

;{{vanchor|Posthumous works}}
* ''Schatz Euonymi'', 1582/1583
** ''Der erste Theil, deß köstlichen unnd theuren Schatzes Euonymi Philiatri [...] Erstlich in Latein beschrieben durch Euonymum Philiatrum, und neuwlich verteutscht durch Joannem Rudolphum Landenberger zu Zürych'', 1582 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xj5mc7EENa0C Band 1]
** ''Ander Theil des Schatzs Euonymi [...] Erstlich zusammen getragen, durch Herren Doctor Cunrat Geßner, Demnach von Caspar Wolffen der Artzneyen Doctor in Zürich in Latin beschriben und in Truck gefertiget, jetzund aber newlich von Johan. Jacobo Nüscheler Doctorn, in Teütsche Sprach vertolmetschet.'', 1583 [https://books.google.com/books?id=sY08AAAAcAAJ Band 2] [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-9710 Band 2]
* {{cite book|first1=Cůnradt|last1=Gäßner|first2=Cůnradt|last2=Forer|title=Fischbůch Das ist ein kurtze, doch vollkommne beschreybung aller Fischen [...]|date=1575|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Peb5STPK2Q0C}}
* {{cite book|first1=Cůnrat|last1=Geßner|first2=Cůnrat|last2=Forer|title=Thierbůch Das ist ein kurtze beschreybung aller vier füssigen Thieren [...]|date=1583|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wXpkcMxCn3IC}}
* {{cite book|first1=Conrat|last1=Geßner|first2=Jacobus|last2=Carronus|title=Schlangenbůch. Das ist ein grundtliche und vollkommne Beschreybung aller Schlagen [...]|date=1589}}
* {{cite book|first1=Conrad|last1=Geßner|first2=Rudolff|last2=Heußlich|title=Vogelbuch oder ausführliche beschreibung und lebendige ja auch eygentliche Controfactur und Abmahlung aller und jeder Vögel [...]<!-- Erstlich durch den hochgelehrten Herrn Doctorn Conrad Geßnern in Latein beschrieben, nachmals aber durch Rudolff Heußlich in hoch Teutsch versetzt, jetzt an vielen orten castigirt und verbessert -->|date=1600|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Tp0b0tP_zsC}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Muffet|editor-first=Thomas|editor-link=Thomas Muffet|last1=Wotton|first1=Edward|author-link1=Edward Wotton (zoologist)|last2=Gesner|first2=Conrad|author-link2=Conrad Gessner|last3=Penny|first3=Thomas|author-link3=Thomas Penny|title=Insectorvm Sive Minimorum Animalivm Theatrvm|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/60501#/summary|date=1634|publisher =Cotes|location=London|ref={{harvid|Muffet|1634}}}}
* {{cite book|last1=Gessner|first1=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|editor-last1=Schmidel|editor-first1=Casimir Christoph|editor-last2=Trew|editor-first2=Christoph Jacob |title=Conradi Gesneri philosophi et medici celeberrimi Opera botanica, per duo saecula desiderata, vitam avctoris et operis historiam Cordi librvm qvintvm cvm adnotationibvs Gesneri in totvm opvs vt et Wolphii fragmentvm historiae plantarvm Gesnerianae adivnctis, indicibvs iconvm tam olim editarvm qvam nvnc prodevntivm cvm figvris vltra CCCC. minoris formae, partim ligno excisis partim aeri inscvlptis complectentia, qvae ex bibliotheca D. Christophori Iacobi Trew ... nvnc primvm in lvcem edidit et praefatvs est D. Casimirvs Christophorvs Schmiedel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lHAry2qu740C|year=1754|orig-year=1555–1565|publisher=Impensis Io. Mich. Seligmanni, typis Io. Iosephi Fleischmanni|location=[[Nuremberg]]}}
;{{vanchor|Edited works}}
* {{cite book|last1=Aelianus|first1=Claudius|author-link=Claudius Aelianus|editor-last=Gessner|editor-first=Conrad|editor-link=Conrad Gessner|title=Aeliani Claudii opera quae extant omnia: graece latinaque ... : his acc. ind. alphabeticus copiosus|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DqVCAAAAcAAJ|year=1565|orig-year=1556 Claudii Aeliani praenestini pontificis et sophistae|publisher=Gesneri|location=Zurich|ref={{harvid|Gessner|1556}}}}{{efn|group=note|''Claudii Aeliani praenestini pontificis'': Considered to be the first critical edition ([[editio princeps]]) of the works of this author }}
* {{cite book|last=Aurelius|first=Marcus|author-link=Marcus Aurelius|editor1-last=Gessner|editor1-first=Conrad|editor-link=Conrad Gessner|title=M. Antonini philosophia de seipso seu vita sua libri XII et Marini Neapolitani liber de Procli vita et felicitate|url=https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10169588?page=1|date=1559|location=[[Tiguri]]|publisher=F. Gesnerum|ref={{harvid|Gessner|1559}}}}{{efn|group=note|''M. Antonini philosophia de seipso seu vita'': Gessner used a Greek manuscript, the ''Codex Palatinus'', of Marcus Aurelius' [[Meditations]], accompanied by a Latin translation by [[Wilhelm Holtzman]]. Since the Codex was later destroyed by fire, Gessner's version became the ''editio princeps''{{sfn|Wellisch|1975}}}}
;{{vanchor|Works in translation}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Dock|editor-first=W.|last=Gessner|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Gessner|others=trans. Henry Douglas Bacon Soulé |title=Conrad Gesner. On the Admiration of Mountains, the Prefatory Letter Addressed to Jacob Avienus, Physician, in Gesner's Pamphlet "On Milk and Substances Prepared from Milk", first Printed at Zürich in 1543. A Description of the Riven Mountain, Commonly Called Mount Pilatus, Addressed to J. Chrysostome Huber, Originally Printed with Another Work of Gesner's at Zürich in 1555. Together With: On Conrad Gesner and The Mountaineering of Theuerdank, by J. Monroe Thorington. Bibliographical Notes by W. Dock and J.M. Thorington. With illustrations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-UsMwEACAAJ|year=1937|publisher=Grabhorn Press|location=San Francisco}}
{{refend}}

== Legacy ==
[[File:New iewell of health 1576 Title page AQ6 (2).jpg|thumb|upright|Title page from ''The new Iewell of Health'', 1576]]
Gessner has been described as the father of modern scientific botany and zoology, and the father of modern bibliography. To his contemporaries he was best known as a botanist.{{sfn|Pettitt|2014}} Despite his traveling ways and the job of maintaining his own gardens, Gesner probably spent most of his time inside his own extensive library.{{sfn|Leu et al|2008}} He listed among his History of Animals sources more than 80 Greek authors and at least 175 Latin authors, as well as works by German, French, and Italian authors. He even attempted to establish a "universal library" of all books in existence. The project might sound strange to the modern mind, but Gessner invested tremendous energy in the project. He sniffed through remote libraries along with the collections of the Vatican Library and catalogs of printers and booksellers. By assembling this universal library of information, Gessner put together a database centuries before computers would ease such work. He cut relevant passages out of books, grouped the cuttings by general theme, subdivided the groups into more specific categories, and boxed them. He could then retrieve and arrange the cuttings as needed. In the words of science writer Anna Pavord, "He was a one-man search engine, a 16th-century Google with the added bonus of critical evaluation."<ref name="Pavord2008">{{cite book|last=Pavord|first=Anna|title=The Naming of Names: The Search for Order in the World of Plants|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qksX1BeWkqcC&pg=PA287|year=2008|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781596919655|page=287}}</ref>

To his contemporaries, Gessner was known as "the Swiss Pliny." According to legend, when he knew his time was near, he asked to be taken to his library where he had spent so much of his life, to die among his favorite books. At the time of his death, Gesner had published 72 books, and written 18 more unpublished manuscripts. His work on plants was not published until centuries after his death.{{sfn|Scott|2017}}

In 1576 [[George Baker (surgeon)|George Baker]] published a translation of the ''Evonymus'' of Conrad Gessner under the title of ''The Newe Jewell of Health, wherein is contained the most excellent Secretes of Physicke and Philosophie divided into fower bookes''. Amongst his students was [[Felix Plater]], who became a professor of medicine, and accumulated many plant specimens, but also illustrations of animals used in ''Historiae animalium''.{{sfn|Platter|2017}} A year after his death, his friend [[Josias Simler]] published a biography of Gessner.{{sfn|Backus|2016}}{{sfn|Simler|1566}} Gessner and others founded the ''Physikalische Gesellschaft'' in Zurich, which later became the ''[[Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zürich]]'' (NGZH) in 1746, to promote the study of natural sciences. Today it is one of the oldest Swiss scientific societies. The society's annual publication, the ''Neujahrsblatt der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich'' was devoted to a biography of Gessner in 1966, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death.{{sfn|Fischer|1966a}}

=== Eponomy ===

In 1753 [[Carl Linnaeus]] named ''[[Tulipa gesneriana]]'', the [[type species]] of the ''[[Tulipa]]'' [[genus]], in his honour.{{sfn|Linnaeus|1753}}{{sfn|Grout|2017}} 
The [[flowering plant]] genus ''[[Gesneria]]'' and its family [[Gesneriaceae]] are named after him. A genus of moths is also named ''[[Gesneria (moth)|Gesneria]]'' after him.

=== Memorials ===
[[File:Alter Botanischer Garten Zürich - Conrad Gessner IMG 0807.jpg|thumb|upright|Conrad Gessner memorial, [[Old Botanical Garden, Zürich]]|alt=Photograph of a bust of Gessner in the Botanical Garden in Zurich]]
* The ''Gessner'' [[herbal garden]] at the [[Old Botanical Garden, Zürich]], is named after him, and there is a bust in the garden in his memory (''see image'') 
* The [[cloister]] in the [[Carolinum, Zürich]] in the ''[[Grossmünster]]'' church, where Gessner is buried, also houses a herbal garden dedicated to him.{{sfn|Stadt Zürich|2017}}
* Gessner was featured on the 50 [[Swiss francs]] banknotes issued between 1978 and 1994.
* On 16 March 2016 the State Museum in Zürich, in close collaboration with Zurich’s Central Library ([[Zentralbibliothek Zürich]]), dedicated a special exhibition to Gessner in celebration of the 500th anniversary of his birth.{{sfn|National Museum|2016}}

== See also ==

* [[Bibliotheca universalis]]
* [[Historia animalium (Gessner book)|Historia Animalium]]
* [[Historia Plantarum (Gessner)|Historia Plantarum]]
* [[History of botany]]

{{botanist|Gesner}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
;Bibliographic notes
{{notelist|group=note|30em}}

==References==
{{Reflist|20em|refs=
* <ref name=DAmico46>{{harvnb|D'Amico|1988|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jJnyxg3xxTEC&pg=PA46 p.&nbsp;46]}}</ref>
* <ref name=gessnertulip>{{harvnb|Gessner|1561|loc=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/33559#page/441/mode/1up p.&nbsp;212]}}</ref>
}}

== Further reading ==
<!-- This is a curated bibliography -->
{{refbegin|30em}}

=== Books and theses ===

* {{cite book|editor-last=Applebaum|editor-first=Wilbur|title=Encyclopedia of the Scientific Revolution: From Copernicus to Newton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k43Q9RHuGXgC|date= 2000|publisher=Garland Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-1-135-58255-5}}
* {{cite book|last= Backus|first=Irena|title=Life Writing in Reformation Europe: Lives of Reformers by Friends, Disciples and Foes|chapter=3: Zurich lives in the latter part of the sixteenth century - The biography of Gesner by Simler|pages=157–161|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjgfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT157|date=2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1-317-10518-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Bay|first=Jens Christian|title=Conrad Gesner (1516–1565), the Father of Bibliography: An Appreciation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWkhAQAAMAAJ|year=1963|orig-year=1916 Bibliographical Society of America|publisher=Kraus Reprint Corporation}}
* {{cite book|last=Blair|first=Ann M.|title=Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEQJtGFtbKsC|date= 2010|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|isbn=978-0-300-16849-5}}
* {{cite book|last1=Brummitt|first1=R.K.|last2=Powell|first2=C.E. |title=Authors of Plant Names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKIRAQAAMAAJ|publisher=[[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]]|year=1992|isbn=1-84246-085-4}} see also [[Authors of Plant Names]]
* {{cite book|last1=Buss|first1=Jared S.|title=Willy Ley, The science writers, and the popular reenchantment of science|date=2014|publisher=Department of History of Science, [[University of Oklahoma]]|url=https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/10374/Final%20Dissertation%205.0%20PDF.pdf?sequence=1|type=PhD thesis}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Gesner, Konrad von |pages= 909–910|volume= 11 }}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Dewald|editor-first=Jonathan|title=Europe 1450 to 1789: encyclopedia of the early modern world 6 vols.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CIYYAAAAIAAJ|year=2004|publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]]|isbn=978-0-684-31206-4}}
* {{cite book|last1=Fischer|first1=Hans|title=Conrad Gessner 1516–1565|date=1966a|publisher=[[Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zürich]]|location=Zurich|url=http://www.ngzh.ch/media/njb/Neujahrsblatt_NGZH_1966.pdf|language=de}}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Grzimek|editor1-first=Bernhard|editor-link1= Bernhard Grzimek|editor2-last=Eibl-Eibesfeldt|editor2-first=Irenäus|editor-link2= Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeld|editor3-last=Eisentraut|editor3-first=Martin|editor4-last=Freye|editor4-first=Hans Albrecht|title=Grzimeks Tierleben. Band 11: Säugetiere 2.Schimpansen–Hörnchenverwandtschaft |date=1977|publisher=Kindler Verlag|location=Zürich|language=de|ref={{harvid|Grzimek et al|1977}}}} ''see also [[Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia]]''
* {{cite book|last=Hanhart|first=Johannes|title=Conrad Geßner: ein Beytrag zur Geschichte des wissenschaftlichen Strebens und der Glaubensverbesserung im 16ten Jahrhundert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=twQ6AAAAcAAJ|year=1824|publisher=Steiner|location=[[Winterthur]]|language=de}}
* {{cite book|last1=Krajewski|first1=Markus|last2=Krapp|first2=Peter|title=Paper Machines: About Cards & Catalogs, 1548-1929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y3UwKT7ddPIC|date= 2011|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|isbn=978-0-262-29727-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Kusukawa|first=Sachiko|title=Picturing the Book of Nature: Image, Text, and Argument in Sixteenth-Century Human Anatomy and Medical Botany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fxZXNljUVYAC|date=2012|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=978-0-226-46529-6}}
* {{cite book|last1=Leu|first1=Urs|last2=Keller|first2=Raffael|last3=Weidmann|first3=Sandra|title=Conrad Gessner's Private Library|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TEGwCQAAQBAJ|date= 2008|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]]|isbn=978-90-474-3350-7|ref={{harvid|Leu et al|2008}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Ley|first=Willy|author-link=Willy Ley|title=Konrad Gesner: Leben und Werk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCzWAQAACAAJ|year=1929|publisher=Münchner Drucke|language=de}}
* {{cite book|last=Ley|first=Willy|title=Dawn of Zoology|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9786000386634|url-access=registration|year=1968|publisher=[[Prentice-Hall]]|isbn=9786000386634 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Linnaeus|first1=Carl|author-link=Carl Linnaeus|title=Species Plantarum vol. 1|chapter=''Tulipa gesneriana''|date=1753|volume=1 |page=306|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358106#page/318/mode/1up}} see also [[Species Plantarum]]
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Manning|editor-first1=Gideon|editor-last2=Klestinec|editor-first2=Cynthia|title=Professors, Physicians and Practices in the History of Medicine: Essays in Honor of Nancy Siraisi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gijiDgAAQBAJ|date= 2017|publisher=[[Springer Nature]]|isbn=978-3-319-56514-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Murray |first=Stuart A. P. |title=The Library: An Illustrated History |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1616084530 |page=89 }}
* {{cite book|last=Ogilvie|first=Brian W.|title=The Science of Describing: Natural History in Renaissance Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f8FmrXT1jdIC|date=2008|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=978-0-226-62086-2}}
*  {{cite book |last=Pavord| first=Anna |author-link=Anna Pavord|title=The Tulip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LeMRBAAAQBAJ|location=London |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]|year=1999 |isbn=0-7475-4296-1 }}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Schmitt|editor-first=C. B.|title=The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJnyxg3xxTEC|year=1988|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-39748-3}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Schulze|editor-first=Sabine|title=Gärten: Ordnung, Inspiration, Glück|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=STdKAQAAIAAJ|year=2006|publisher=[[Städel|Städel Museum]], and Hatje Cantz Verlag|location=Frankfurt am Main|isbn=978-3-7757-1870-7|language=de}}
* {{cite book|last1=Simler|first1=Josias|author-link=Josias Simler|title=Vita clarissimi philosophi et medici excellentissimi Conradi Gesneri Tigurini a Josia Simlero Tigurin. Item epistola Gesneri de libris a se editis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38l1FHwo-Y4C|date=1566|publisher=C Froschoverum|location=[[Tiguri]]|language=la}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Jardine|editor-first=William|editor-link=Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet|last=Smith|first=Charles Hamilton|author-link=Charles Hamilton Smith|title=The Naturalist's Library Volume 20 Mammals: Horses|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PkhKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA17|year=1866|publisher=W.H. Lizars|location=London|chapter=Memoir of Gesner|pages=1–58}}
* {{cite book|last1=Springer|first1=Katharina B.|last2=Kinzelbach|first2=Ragnar K.|title=Das Vogelbuch von Conrad Gessner (1516-1565): Ein Archiv für avifaunistische Daten|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ebJtXg-X_L0C|date= 2008|publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]]|isbn=978-3-540-85284-1|language=de}}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Topsell|editor1-first=Edward|editor-link=Edward Topsell|title=The history of four-footed beasts and serpents|date=1658|publisher=E. Cotes|location=London|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/79388#/summary}}

=== Chapters ===


*  {{cite book|last=D'Amico|first=John F|title=Printing and censorship|pages=25–53|ref={{harvid|D'Amico|1988}}}}, in {{harvtxt|Schmitt|1988}}
* {{cite book|last1=Blair|first1=Ann|title=The dedication strategies of Conrad Gessner|date=15 May 2017|pages=169–210|publisher=Springer |isbn=9783319565149|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gijiDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA186}}, in {{harvtxt|Manning|Klestinec|2017}}
* {{cite book|last1=Freye|first1=H.A|last2=Thenius|first2=E.|title=Die Nagetiere|pages=204–211|ref={{harvid|Freye|Thenius|1977}}}}, in {{harvtxt|Grzimek et al|1977}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pyle|first1=CM|title=Gessner, Conrad (1516–1565)|date=16 December 2003|pages=265–266|publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135582555|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k43Q9RHuGXgC&pg=PT388}}, in {{harvtxt|Applebaum|2000}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pyle|first1=CM|title=Gessner, Conrad (Also Konrad Gesner, 1516–1565)|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gessner-conrad-also-konrad-gesner-1516-1565}}, in {{harvtxt|Dewald|2004}}

=== Articles ===

* {{cite journal|last1=Baldi|first1=Diego|title=Conrad Gesner, i Loci Communes dello pseudo Massimo Confessore e la Melissa del monaco Antonio|journal=[[Bibliothecae.it(journal)|Bibliothecae.it]]|volume=3|issue=1|pages=19–61}}
*Blair, Ann. “The 2016 Josephine Waters Bennett Lecture: Humanism and Printing in the Work of Conrad Gessner.” ''Renaissance Quarterly'' 70, no. 1 (2017): 1–43.
* {{cite journal|last1=Cannon|first1=Barbara|last2=Nedergaard|first2=Jan|date=21 August 2008|title=Developmental biology: Neither fat nor flesh|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=454|issue=7207|pages=947–8|doi=10.1038/454947a|pmid=18719573|bibcode = 2008Natur.454..947C |s2cid=205040511|doi-access=free|url=https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/preview/1659487/kura-et-al-2023-can-mass-drug-administration-of-moxidectin-accelerate-onchocerciasis-elimination-in-africa.pdf}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Fischer|first1=Hans|title=Conrad Gessner (1516–1565) as Bibliographer and Encyclopedist|journal=[[The Library (journal)|The Library]]|date=1966|volume=s5-XXI|issue=4|pages=269–281|doi=10.1093/library/s5-XXI.4.269}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Jessop|first1=L.|title=Moufet, T. . (Edited by G. Thomson.) Privately published by George Thomson, Lockerbie: 2000. Pp 45. Price £ 65.|journal=[[Archives of Natural History]]|date=February 2002|volume=29|issue=1|pages=119–120|doi=10.3366/anh.2002.29.1.119a}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Pyle | first1 = Cynthia Munro  | year = 2000 | title = Conrad Gessner on the Spelling of his Name | journal = Archives of Natural History | volume = 27 | issue = 2 | pages = 175–186 | doi=10.3366/anh.2000.0002| pmid = 15309750 }}
* {{cite journal|last1=Wellisch|first1=Hans (Hanan)|title=Conrad Gessner: a bio-bibliography|journal=Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History|date=June 1975|volume=7|issue=2|pages=151–247|doi=10.3366/jsbnh.1975.7.2.151}}

=== Websites ===

* {{cite web|title=Gessner, Conrad, 1516–1565|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/creator/36541#/titles|publisher=[[Biodiversity Heritage Library]]|access-date=2 October 2017|ref={{harvid|BHL|2017}}}} ''listing of works held''
* {{cite web|title=Kreuzgang Grossmünster|url=https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/hbd/de/index/immobilien-bewirtschaftung/staedtisches_portfolio/kulturbauten/kreuzgang_grossmuenster.html|publisher=Hochbaudepartement, Stadt Zürich|access-date=27 September 2017|language=de|date=2017|ref={{harvid|Stadt Zürich|2017}}}}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.nationalmuseum.ch/e/microsites/2016/Zuerich/Gessner.php|title=Conrad Gessner 1516–2016|access-date=27 September 2017|publisher=[[Swiss National Museum]], Zurich|ref={{harvid|National Museum|2016}}}}
* {{cite web|last1=Scott|first1=Michon|title=Conrad Gesner|url=https://www.strangescience.net/gesner.htm|website=Strange Science: The rocky road to modern paleontology and biology|access-date=27 September 2017|date=26 March 2017}}
* {{cite web|last1=Grout|first1=James|title=Conrad Gessner|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/gesner.html|website=Encyclopaedia Romana|publisher=University of Chicago|access-date=28 September 2017|ref={{harvid|Grout|2017}}}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last1= Parrott-Sheffer|first1=Chelsey|title=Pencil|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/pencil-writing-implement#ref253370|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=3 October 2017|date=20 August 2008}}

;Biography
* {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Pettitt|first1=George A.|title=Conrad Gesner|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Conrad-Gesner|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=26 September 2017|date=18 February 2014}}
* {{cite web|last1=Westfall|first1=Richard S.|title=Gesner [Gessner], Konrad|url=http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/gesner.html|website=The Galileo Project|publisher=[[Rice University]]|access-date=30 September 2017|date=1993}}

; Zoology
* {{cite web|title=Animal drawings collected by Felix Platter (1536-1614), part 2|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/bijzonderecollectiesuva/sets/72157632809370911/comments/|publisher=University of Amsterdam|ref={{harvid|Platter|2017}}}}
* {{cite web|title=Moffett, Thomas (1553-1604) Insectorum, sive, Minimorum animalium theatrum|url=https://library.sydney.edu.au/collections/rare-books/online-exhibitions/modernity/moffett.html|website=Origins of modernity: Natural history|publisher=[[University of Sydney]] Library|access-date=27 September 2017|ref={{harvid|Modernity|2017}}}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Muffet|editor-first=Thomas|editor-link=Thomas Muffet|last1=Wotton|first1=Edward|author-link1=Edward Wotton (zoologist)|last2=Gesner|first2=Conrad|author-link2=Conrad Gessner|last3=Penny|first3=Thomas|author-link3=Thomas Penny|title=Insectorvm Sive Minimorum Animalivm Theatrvm|url=https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN371060702|website=Göttingen Digitisation Centre (GDZ)|publisher=University of Goettingen|access-date=18 June 2020|date=1634|ref={{harvid|GDZ|2017}}}}
* {{cite web|last1=Gesner|first1=Conrad|title=Historiae Animalium|url=https://ceb.nlm.nih.gov/proj/ttp/Gesnergallery.htm|website=Turning the Pages|publisher=[[National Library of Medicine]]|access-date=26 September 2017|date=25 February 2015|ref={{harvid|TTP|2015}}}}
* {{cite web|last1=Gessner|first1=Conrad|title=Thierbuch|url=http://www.humi.mita.keio.ac.jp/treasures/nature/Gesner-web/highlight/high-top.html|website=HUMI (Humanities Media Interface) Project: Natural History Books|publisher=Keio University|access-date=27 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306164411/http://www.humi.mita.keio.ac.jp/treasures/nature/Gesner-web/highlight/high-top.html|archive-date=6 March 2012|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|last1=North|first1=Michael|title=An early look at the Turkey|url=https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2015/11/23/an-early-look-at-the-turkey/|website=Circulating Now|publisher=National Library of Medicine|access-date=1 October 2017|date=23 November 2015}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons|Conrad Gesner}}
{{wikisource author}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{HDS|14376|Konrad Gessner|author=Urs B. Leu}}
* {{SIKART|9582675|Gessner, Conrad (Konrad)|Autor= Angela Fischel}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=xykBAAAAQAAJ ''The Natural History of Horses, with Memoir of Gesner''] by [[Charles Hamilton Smith]]
* [http://australianmuseum.net.au/Icones-Animalium-1560 Images from Icones Animalium... 1560.]
* [https://hos.ou.edu/galleries/16thCentury/GesnerK/ Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515112427/https://hos.ou.edu/galleries//16thCentury/GesnerK/ |date=15 May 2018 }} High resolution images of works by and/or portraits of Conrad Gessner in .jpg and .tiff format.
* In 2012, [[University of Amsterdam|Amsterdam University]] Library digitised the so-called Gessner albums ([http://picturingscience.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/gessner-drawings-university-of-amsterdam/ press release]). Some of Gessner's drawings have been made available on Flickr: [https://www.flickr.com/photos/bijzonderecollectiesuva/sets/72157632814218926/ fish and other creatures of the sea], [https://www.flickr.com/photos/bijzonderecollectiesuva/sets/72157632809370911/ mammals].
* Gesner, Conrad (1565) [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/nat_hist/id/20606 ''De omni rerum fossilium genere, gemmis, lapidibus, metallis, et huiusmod''] – digital facsimile from the [[Linda Hall Library]]
* [https://www.enotes.com/topics/conrad-gesner Conrad Gessner at enotes]
* [http://www.macroevolution.net/conrad-gesner.html#.UpPSzMSX8ue McCarthy, Eugene M. "Conrad Gesner.", Macroevolution 2013]
{{div col end}}

{{History of biology}}
{{Natural history|state=expanded}}

{{Portal bar|Switzerland|Biography}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gessner, Conrad}}
[[Category:1516 births]]
[[Category:1565 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:16th-century Swiss physicians]]
[[Category:16th-century deaths from plague (disease)]]
[[Category:16th-century Swiss writers]]
[[Category:16th-century Swiss botanists]]
[[Category:16th-century lexicographers]]
[[Category:Botanists with author abbreviations]]
[[Category:Christian Hebraists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zurich]]
[[Category:Linguists from Switzerland]]
[[Category:Swiss mountain climbers]]
[[Category:Swiss naturalists]]
[[Category:Swiss zoologists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Carolinum, Zurich]]
[[Category:Bibliographers]]
[[Category:Converts to Lutheranism from Roman Catholicism]]