Ulisse Aldrovandi's Annotations on Aristotle’s ‘Problemata’ (1501)

Abstract

This paper presents the Aristotelian volume (comprising two Venetian editions bound together) that originally belonged to Ulisse Aldrovandi, was later owned by Loris Jacopo Bononi, and is now housed at the library of the Terziere castle. Following an essential introduction to Aldrovandi's library and its organization, the author describes the volume and focuses on Aldrovandi's marginal notes on the Sixteenth-century edition of the pseudo-Aristotelian Problemata (translated by Theodoro Gaza) with the commentary by Pietro da Abano. Three of these annotations are particularly significant as Aldrovandi explicitly refers to the Problemata and the commentary in this copy in at least two of his printed works (Monstrorum historia and Quadrupedum historia).