''De Historia Piscium'', (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for 'Of the History of Fish') is a scientific book written by

Francis Willughby Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, la, Franciscus Willughbeius) FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithologist and ichthyologist, and an early student of linguistics and games. He was born and raised at ...

and published by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1686. It was unpopular and sold poorly, causing severe strain on the finances of the society. This resulted in the society being unable to meet its promise to finance the publication of Newton's '' Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica'' ("''Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy''", better known simply as ''Principia''), leaving this to

Edmond Halley Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; – ) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720. From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, H ...

, who was then the clerk of the society. After Halley had personally financed the publication of ''Principia'', he was informed that the society could no longer afford to provide him the promised annual salary of £50. Instead, the similarly wealthy Halley was paid with left-over copies of ''De Historia Piscium''.

External links

Scanned images of ''De Historia Piscium'' first edition

Notes

Science books 1686 books {{zoology-book-stub