The phoenix is one of the most iconic symbols of immortality and rebirth - the bird that dies in a burst of fire and then rises from its own ashes. In some versions, the phoenix just spontaneously combusts, but in others it builds and lights its own funeral pyre.
🎨 Friedrich Bertuch #FolkloreSunday
The gulon is a legendary monster of the Scandinavian arctic with a dog's size and body, a cat's head and claws, and a fox's tail. The gulon is so gluttonous that once it's full, it will squeeze itself between two trees to vomit up its food, so it can start killing and eating again. #FolkloreSunday
Medieval bestiaries say mother pelicans sometimes accidentally kill their chicks in anger. Then the horrified pelican weeps over the corpses for three days, after which she slices her own side, spills her blood on the chicks, and in dying returns them to life. #WyrdWednesday
The Modern Bestiary: A Curated Collection of Wondrous Wildlife
A quirky collection of Earth’s most compelling animals who give mythical creatures a run for their money
The Modern Bestiary: A Curated Collection of Wondrous Wildlife mirrors the medieval tradition of an encyclopedia of incredible beasts, only this charming book with ornamental illustrations features 100 real animals who are stranger than fiction.
Medieval scholars believed ravens don't feed their chicks until their black feathers grow, so the parents recognize them. Before that, the chicks just drink dew. An allegory for how teachers shouldn't reveal inner mysteries until students are ready to listen. #FairyTaleTuesday
David Day's A TOLKIEN BESTIARY is a scholarly, definitive and enchantingly beautiful explanation of all the imaginary beasts, monsters, races, nations,deities, fauna and flora of J.R.R- Tolkien's fantasy worlds of Middle-earth and the Undying Lands....
While this isn't cover news, in the spirit of the sub, I'd like submit the work of Douglas Dixon, who wrote several books, including the bestiary After Man in 1981, about how the animal world would evolve after the end of human civilization. The link above goes to the fandom version of his bestiary.
An in-depth analysis of the 12th century work Ajaib al-Makhluqat wa Gharaib al-Mawjudat, or Marvels of Things and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing by Zakariyya al-Qazwini, and the Arabian and Mesopotamian legends surrounding the djinn.
An assortment of some very adorable hedgehogs from illuminated manuscripts, mostly dating from the 14th and 15th c.
Snails and rabbits get a lot of attention, but personally I love the hedgehog. Especially the ones with stuff on their spines. #medievodons#medieval#medievalart#bestiary
Hyena Hyena eating a shrouded corpse in a tomb "The hyena is a dirty beast the braks open tombs to eat the corpses in finds inside. This corpse is wrapped in a shroud, which has not deterred the hyena." Corpus Christi College Parker Library, MS 53 (The Peterborough Psalter and Bestiary), folio 191v https://bestiary.ca/beasts/beastgallery153.htm#37
Hyena Hyena eating a plant "The hyena is a dirty beast that breaks open tombs to eat the corpses it finds there. In this very unusual illustration the hyena is eating a plant instead of a corpse." Getty Museum, MS. Ludwig XV 4 (Aviarium / Bestiary), folio 88r #40
A Tolkien Bestiary - David Day - 1949 (pdfhost.io)
David Day's A TOLKIEN BESTIARY is a scholarly, definitive and enchantingly beautiful explanation of all the imaginary beasts, monsters, races, nations,deities, fauna and flora of J.R.R- Tolkien's fantasy worlds of Middle-earth and the Undying Lands....
(Meta - Evolutionary Theory) After Man: A Zoology of the Future - Douglas Dixon - 1981 (speculativeevolution.fandom.com)
While this isn't cover news, in the spirit of the sub, I'd like submit the work of Douglas Dixon, who wrote several books, including the bestiary After Man in 1981, about how the animal world would evolve after the end of human civilization. The link above goes to the fandom version of his bestiary.
Demons, Djinns, and Devils of the Medieval Islamic World (www.medievalists.net)
An in-depth analysis of the 12th century work Ajaib al-Makhluqat wa Gharaib al-Mawjudat, or Marvels of Things and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing by Zakariyya al-Qazwini, and the Arabian and Mesopotamian legends surrounding the djinn.