Inside the book

The engraved frontispiece opens the book, framed by eight emblematic figures, and encapsulates the blend of science and symbolism prized in the seventeenth century. Allegorical motifs (and, of course, a dog) serve as a visual manifesto of the age’s culture of curiosity. The volum starts with Latin reflections on scholarly diligence, quoting Martial, Euripides, and others, and bears the society’s motto “Nunquam Otiosus” (“Never Idle”), embedding it in the intellectual ethos of organized science. Commendatory verses by Caspar Stieler, the noted lexicographer and cultural historian, celebrate both Paullini’s curiosity and the dog as noble companion and protector, underscoring his place within a wide intellectual network. Letters from Paulus Amman, Dryander, Georg Christoph Petri, and other members of the Academia Naturae Curiosorum further affirm the book’s value, while additional praises from Athanasius Kircher and Nicolaus Steno link it with the major intellectual currents of seventeenth-century natural philosophy and anatomy. The text begins with “On the Name of the Dog,” an etymological, philological, and anatomical study of ‘canis’ that anticipates comparative linguistics and demonstrates a pre-Linnaean integration of natural history with philology. From there, Paullini expands outward into an encyclopedic survey, covering religion, politics, law, warfare, hunting, domestic economy, medicine, demonology, and associations with Satan. Drawing extensively on Virgil, Varro, Isidore, and a wide range of classical sources, Paullini assembles what is effectively the first scientific encyclopedia of the dog. His discussion reaches into Greek and Roman antiquity, Egyptian ritual, and Bacchic rites, bridging zoology, religion, and anthropology in a synthesis unique within early modern science. Ancient coins and monuments featuring dogs are discussed, linking canine imagery to civic memory, temples, and numismatic tradition. References to Pliny, Roman emperors, and later European coinage appear. In “On the satanic use of the dog” Paullini cites Agrippa and tales of witches, demons, and apparitions in which dogs served as familiars or diabolical agents. Spectral dogs appear in necromancy and folk superstitions. “On dog flesh” and “On dog bones” discusses the medical, dietary, and folkloric uses of dog meat, particularly in times of famine (examples from Thuringia, Saxony, Muscovy). Dog bones are noted in pharmacopeia and magic remedies. Written primarily in Latin, the universal scholarly language of seventeenth-century Europe, the Cynographia Curiosa is enriched with Greek quotations in philosophy, medicine, and etymology, as well as Hebrew references and abundant citations from classical authors. This multilingual layering reflects how Paullini and his circle understood science: as an interweaving of philology, theology, natural history, and medicine. For collectors, it reveals the encyclopedic ambition of early modern scholarship, with dogs serving as a prism through which to study the breadth of human knowledge. The book’s typography shifts constantly: large Roman and Italic fonts for the main text, bold display capitals for section titles, small italics for citations, and blackletter flourishes in dedications. Decorated initials, headpieces, and printers’ ornaments provide visual rhythm, while Greek type, still a marker of elite learning in the seventeenth century, sets quotations apart with scholarly distinction. This typographic richness reflects the “curiosity culture” of the Academia Naturae Curiosorum, where books were designed to impress visually as well as intellectually.