Mythical Beasts

About the book

Written by experts in their fields and edited by former British Museum curator John Cherry, this extensive history illuminates the roles that mythical beasts have played across cultures and reveals why they have retained their appeal from antiquity to the present day. This beautiful new edition is illustrated with archive images from museums around the world: paintings such as Raphael’s The Lady with the Unicorn and Rubens’s Two Satyrs; a detail from a casket from Tutankhamun’s tomb; Arthur Rackham’s illustration Alice with the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle from Alice in Wonderland; and a page from the beautiful 17th-century Shahnameh (Book of Kings) by the Persian poet Firdausi, depicting a dramatic slaying of a dragon. Each chapter is headed by a newly commissioned illustration from Neil Packer, who has also crafted elaborate figures and intricate motifs for the binding and slipcase. Finally, a glossary provides an easy alphabetical reference to many more beasts from art and antiquity around the world.

About the Book

Written by experts in their fields and edited by former British Museum curator John Cherry, this extensive history illuminates the roles that mythical beasts have played across cultures and reveals why they have retained their appeal from antiquity to the present day. This beautiful new edition is illustrated with archive images from museums around the world: paintings such as Raphael’s The Lady with the Unicorn and Rubens’s Two Satyrs; a detail from a casket from Tutankhamun’s tomb; Arthur Rackham’s illustration Alice with the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle from Alice in Wonderland; and a page from the beautiful 17th-century Shahnameh (Book of Kings) by the Persian poet Firdausi, depicting a dramatic slaying of a dragon. Each chapter is headed by a newly commissioned illustration from Neil Packer, who has also crafted elaborate figures and intricate motifs for the binding and slipcase. Finally, a glossary provides an easy alphabetical reference to many more beasts from art and antiquity around the world.

About the book

Written by experts in their fields and edited by former British Museum curator John Cherry, this extensive history illuminates the roles that mythical beasts have played across cultures and reveals why they have retained their appeal from antiquity to the present day. This beautiful new edition is illustrated with archive images from museums around the world: paintings such as Raphael’s The Lady with the Unicorn and Rubens’s Two Satyrs; a detail from a casket from Tutankhamun’s tomb; Arthur Rackham’s illustration Alice with the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle from Alice in Wonderland; and a page from the beautiful 17th-century Shahnameh (Book of Kings) by the Persian poet Firdausi, depicting a dramatic slaying of a dragon. Each chapter is headed by a newly commissioned illustration from Neil Packer, who has also crafted elaborate figures and intricate motifs for the binding and slipcase. Finally, a glossary provides an easy alphabetical reference to many more beasts from art and antiquity around the world.

About the illustrator

Written by experts in their fields and edited by former British Museum curator John Cherry, this extensive history illuminates the roles that mythical beasts have played across cultures and reveals why they have retained their appeal from antiquity to the present day. This beautiful new edition is illustrated with archive images from museums around the world: paintings such as Raphael’s The Lady with the Unicorn and Rubens’s Two Satyrs; a detail from a casket from Tutankhamun’s tomb; Arthur Rackham’s illustration Alice with the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle from Alice in Wonderland; and a page from the beautiful 17th-century Shahnameh (Book of Kings) by the Persian poet Firdausi, depicting a dramatic slaying of a dragon. Each chapter is headed by a newly commissioned illustration from Neil Packer, who has also crafted elaborate figures and intricate motifs for the binding and slipcase. Finally, a glossary provides an easy alphabetical reference to many more beasts from art and antiquity around the world.

About the Book

Written by experts in their fields and edited by former British Museum curator John Cherry, this extensive history illuminates the roles that mythical beasts have played across cultures and reveals why they have retained their appeal from antiquity to the present day. This beautiful new edition is illustrated with archive images from museums around the world: paintings such as Raphael’s The Lady with the Unicorn and Rubens’s Two Satyrs; a detail from a casket from Tutankhamun’s tomb; Arthur Rackham’s illustration Alice with the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle from Alice in Wonderland; and a page from the beautiful 17th-century Shahnameh (Book of Kings) by the Persian poet Firdausi, depicting a dramatic slaying of a dragon. Each chapter is headed by a newly commissioned illustration from Neil Packer, who has also crafted elaborate figures and intricate motifs for the binding and slipcase. Finally, a glossary provides an easy alphabetical reference to many more beasts from art and antiquity around the world.

About the Book

Written by experts in their fields and edited by former British Museum curator John Cherry, this extensive history illuminates the roles that mythical beasts have played across cultures and reveals why they have retained their appeal from antiquity to the present day. This beautiful new edition is illustrated with archive images from museums around the world: paintings such as Raphael’s The Lady with the Unicorn and Rubens’s Two Satyrs; a detail from a casket from Tutankhamun’s tomb; Arthur Rackham’s illustration Alice with the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle from Alice in Wonderland; and a page from the beautiful 17th-century Shahnameh (Book of Kings) by the Persian poet Firdausi, depicting a dramatic slaying of a dragon. Each chapter is headed by a newly commissioned illustration from Neil Packer, who has also crafted elaborate figures and intricate motifs for the binding and slipcase. Finally, a glossary provides an easy alphabetical reference to many more beasts from art and antiquity around the world.