Bestiary: An Illuminated Alphabet of Medieval Beasts

by Jonathan Hunt

Black Dog stalks travelers on the moors, and just hearing its footsteps can kill. A single glance from a basilisk is fatal. Wyverns -- two-legged dragons with wings -- attack castles and villages from the air. Hundreds of years ago, medieval scholars believed the world was filled with strange and terrifying creatures. They wrote about them in bestiaries -- collections of facts, myths, and stories about animals. Here are twenty-six creatures from those medieval legends, from the two-headed amphisbaena to the fierce ziphius, a water-owl that preys on ships and sailors. Detailed, dramatic paintings based on illuminated manuscripts will transport you to the Middle Ages -- when much of the world was still unknown and mysterious terrors haunted the night.

Genres: Picture Books, Reference, Fantasy, Mythology, Unicorns, Animals, Mythical Creatures

48 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a real fondness for medieval bestiaries, and used to get a lot of books like this from the library when I was a kid, so I was really delighted to read this with my littles (7 & 8) and give them a little taste of medieval legends about fantastic beasts!

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this, but was a little disappointed by the contents... It was interesting to see what beasts they chose for each letter, but I would have like to have more context. The illustrations were exceptional, but the summaries were very short. I know from the title these beasts are suppose to be "Medieval", but I would have liked the book to include more information about origin and context.

[Damon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Misleading title. Contains no bestiality.

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short book contains stunning illustrations.

[Isaiah (aka Isaiah Ward) Herrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good bestiary of medival beasts. This certainly helped me in my creation for my book series I'm writing currently.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like bestiaries and all of the strange creatures they contain, but the art style of the original ones is often disappointing. I really like the art in this book, but I wish it had more complete descriptions of the creatures, and also more creatures. Plus, there are at least two creatures in the book that I've seen attested no where else, the nycticorax (which is the scientific name for a group of night herons, which seem distinct from the creature here depicted) and the ozaena.

A random coincidence: a book that I'm currently reading Phantom Islands of the Atlantic revealed that the map in the inside covers seems to be drawn at least in part from the Martin Behaim globe of 1492; certainly the shape of Africa is very similar.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a shame that this is an alphabet rather than a dictionary. Because there can only be one beast per letter, a lot of very cool medieval creatures had to be left out by necessity. The format also necessitates some very obscure stretches. The pronunciation guide at the front is a big help.

There are several varieties of dragons (amphisbaena, firedrake, wyvern) and sea monsters (echeneis, hippocampus, kraken, ozaena, triton, ziphius). Unfortnately, the illustrator chose to depict the unicorn with the body of a jackal-like beast rather than a horse. One of my favorites, the manticore, is also included. My only real compliant about the illustrations is that a sheen of ugliness and aggressiveness colors everything, so everything is rather horrible than majestic or awe-inspiring.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate liked this, even though many of the names were difficult to pronounce. Sophie said she liked the Kraken.

Read the fascinating author's note here.

Milton's Paradise Lost references an amphisbaena (10.524).

The book includes a bibliography, including works by Jorge Luis Borges, David Day, Andrew Lang, and T. H. White.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Story of the World, Vol II.

My daughter is interested in dragons and other mythological creatures right now, so this suggestion of further reading hit the spot. I enjoyed it too. The illustrations are great and the text is informative without going in to too much detail (for those of us that aren't "in" to dragons :-)) I was really impressed with this book!

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated in a medieval illumination style, using transparent watercolors, ink, acrylics, and color pencils.