{"id":1116,"date":"2024-08-28T21:45:36","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T21:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/?p=1116"},"modified":"2026-02-11T23:02:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T23:02:28","slug":"bartholins-observations-on-the-unicorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/2024\/08\/28\/bartholins-observations-on-the-unicorn\/","title":{"rendered":"Bartholin&#8217;s observations on the unicorn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In August of 2024, just in time to share the book with Carol Neel&#8217;s First Year Foundations class &#8220;The Animal-Human Boundary&#8221; (also known informally, by us at least, as &#8220;beasts and monsters&#8221;), Special Collections purchased a 1678 book on unicorns: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bartholin, Thomas (1616-1680). <em>De Unicornu Observationes Novae<\/em>. Amsterdam: H. Wetstenius, 1678.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the first illustrated edition (a version without pictures was published in 1645), so even if, like most people in 1678 (and today), you don&#8217;t read Latin, you can still enjoy this book. We thank the seller, Paul M. Dowling of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liberantiquus.com\/\">Liber Antiqus<\/a>, for providing these images. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"633\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-2-633x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1117\" class=\"wp-image-1117\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-2-633x1024.jpg 633w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-2-185x300.jpg 185w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-2-768x1243.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-2-949x1536.jpg 949w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-2-1265x2048.jpg 1265w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-2-624x1010.jpg 624w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-2-scaled.jpg 1581w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 633px) 100vw, 633px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"637\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-3-637x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1118\" data-link=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/?attachment_id=1118\" class=\"wp-image-1118\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-3-637x1024.jpg 637w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-3-187x300.jpg 187w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-3-768x1235.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-3-955x1536.jpg 955w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-3-1274x2048.jpg 1274w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-3-624x1003.jpg 624w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-3-scaled.jpg 1592w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"919\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-919x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1119\" data-link=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/?attachment_id=1119\" class=\"wp-image-1119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-919x1024.jpg 919w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-269x300.jpg 269w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-768x856.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-1378x1536.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-1837x2048.jpg 1837w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-624x696.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 919px) 100vw, 919px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"598\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-8-1024x598.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1120\" data-link=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/?attachment_id=1120\" class=\"wp-image-1120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-8-1024x598.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-8-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-8-768x449.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-8-1536x897.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-8-2048x1197.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-8-624x365.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-9-1024x624.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1121\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-9-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/?attachment_id=1121\" class=\"wp-image-1121\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-9-1024x624.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-9-300x183.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-9-768x468.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-9-1536x936.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-9-2048x1248.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/files\/2024\/08\/5058-9-624x380.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christies.com\/img\/LotImages\/2015\/CKS\/2015_CKS_10456_0126_000(passe_crispin_de_the_younger_spiegel_der_alderschoonste_cortisanen_des114119).jpg?mode=max&amp;w=1\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Edward Worth Library in Dublin, Ireland, provides a useful overview of unicorn theory <a href=\"https:\/\/mythicalcreatures.edwardworthlibrary.ie\/unicorns\/theory\/\">here<\/a>, and Google Books has digitized versions both the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/_\/2uRZAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1\">1645<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Thomae_Bartholini_De_Unicornu_Observatio\/6hgOAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0\">1678<\/a> editions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In August of 2024, just in time to share the book with Carol Neel&#8217;s First Year Foundations class &#8220;The Animal-Human Boundary&#8221; (also known informally, by us at least, as &#8220;beasts and monsters&#8221;), Special Collections purchased a 1678 book on unicorns: Bartholin, Thomas (1616-1680). De Unicornu Observationes Novae. Amsterdam: H. Wetstenius, 1678. This is the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":413,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cc-special-collections"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3q4oW-i0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/413"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1116"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}