Two wonderfully weird illustrations from Conrad Gesner’s Historiae animalium (1551-1558), are the bishop fish and the monk fish. The bishop fish or sea bishop, with… Read More »December 23 – Monk Fish and Bishop Fish
Today, rather than featuring a specific fantastic beast, we are highlighting the gradual. The gradual or graduale was a music book used in liturgy for… Read More »December 22 – Zoomorphic initials
Werewolves are humans with the ability to change into wolves, voluntarily or not, most often on the night of a full moon. This illustration, by… Read More »December 21 – Werewolf
Last week we featured a small dragon which comes from our 15th century Rouen Book of Hours (ms38938). This devotional text includes 13 large full-page… Read More »December 20 – Drolleries
While salamanders are real creatures (lizards), within folklore they have been endowed with remarkable attributes, mainly their ability to withstand fire. The image of a… Read More »December 19 – Salamander
The kelpie, or water-horse, is a shape-shifting water spirit from Scottish legend. Included in the Robert Burns poem ‘Address to the Deil’ (1786), the kelpie… Read More »December 18 – Kelpies
Known as the king of the serpents, the basilisk (from ‘basiliskos’ meaning little king) is a legendary reptile known to be able to kill with… Read More »December 17 – Basilisk
The kraken is a giant sea monster from Scandinavian folklore, said to plague sailors. Olaus Magnus, a Swedish author most well known for his Historia… Read More »December 16 – Kraken
Though perhaps not strictly a fantastic beast, we had to include the unusual blemmye in this calendar. The blemmye or mythical headless man has been… Read More »December 15 – Blemmye
Cerberus, the ‘hound of Hades’, is a three headed dog with the tail of a serpent, which according to mythology, guards the gates of the… Read More »December 14 – Cerberus
From our wonderful manuscripts, we have four depictions of dragons to share with you. A dragon in our 17th-18th century manuscript copy of “The Book… Read More »December 13 – Dragons in manuscripts
The dragon is perhaps the most iconic of the fantastic beasts. This winged legendary creature, known for its fire breathing abilities is common to most… Read More »December 12 – Dragons in print
