REDI (Francesco). Osservazioni... intorno agli animali viventi che si trovano negli animali viventi. Firenze [Florence]: Piro Matini, 1684. -In-4, 236x172: (4 ff.), 232 pp. 26 plates. Soft parchment, smooth spine with title in ink (contemporary binding). Rare first edition of this important work in the history of science in general and zoology in particular. Written by the Italian physician, naturalist and poet Francesco Redi (1626-1698), this is the work that made its author the initiator of experimental parasitology and the father of helminthology. According to Ioli, Petitthory and Théodoridès: "This work, in which numerous species of parasitic worms (helminths) of humans and animals are described, is the concrete testimony of the first truly scientific parasitological research. Redi describes endoparasites (helminths) and ectoparasites (insects and mites) of numerous vertebrate (mammals, birds, reptiles) and invertebrate (crustaceans, molluscs) hosts. In particular, he has identified Taenia crassicollis and Cysticercus pisiformis in the mesentery of hares, the dog roundworm Toxocara canis and the liver fluke: fasciola hepatica, for which he published the first drawing in 1668, based on a specimen taken from the liver of a castrated ram... This book also presents pharmacological methods for evaluating the efficacy of treatments for parasitic diseases, and enables us to study the value of recommended prescriptions against halminthiasis." (Ioli, Petitthory, Théodoridès, Francesco Redi and the birth of experimental parasitology, pp. 62-63.) The edition is illustrated with 26 beautiful intaglio plates depicting the various parasites studied. A fine copy in contemporary binding, very well preserved despite some unavoidable soiling to the parchment. Some light spotting. Provenance: Guillaume Pedone Lauriel Italian bookshop in Paris, with its label bearing the address of Place Sorbonne, indicating that it was affixed before 1887, when the bookshop moved to Rue Soufflot.