Book of Beasts

Book of Beasts
Author: Elizabeth Morrison
Publisher: Getty Publications
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2019
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1606065904

A celebration of the visual contributions of the bestiary--one of the most popular types of illuminated books during the Middle Ages--and an exploration of its lasting legacy. Brimming with lively animals both real and fantastic, the bestiary was one of the great illuminated manuscript traditions of the Middle Ages. Encompassing imaginary creatures such as the unicorn, siren, and griffin; exotic beasts including the tiger, elephant, and ape; as well as animals native to Europe like the beaver, dog, and hedgehog, the bestiary is a vibrant testimony to the medieval understanding of animals and their role in the world. So iconic were the stories and images of the bestiary that its beasts essentially escaped from the pages, appearing in a wide variety of manuscripts and other objects, including tapestries, ivories, metalwork, and sculpture. With over 270 color illustrations and contributions by twenty-five leading scholars, this gorgeous volume explores the bestiary and its widespread influence on medieval art and culture as well as on modern and contemporary artists like Pablo Picasso and Damien Hirst. Published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center May 14 to August 18, 2019.

The Book of Beasts

The Book of Beasts
Author: Terence Hanbury White
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 326
Release: 1984-01-01
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 9780486246093

A preeminent medievalist presents a wonderful catalog of real and fanciful beasts, including the manticore, griffin, phoenix, amphivius, jaculus, and many other exotic animals. White's witty, erudite commentary on scientific and historical aspects enhances this survey of proto-zoology on which science is based and pre-scientific perceptions of the earth's creatures. 128 black-and-white illustrations.

Gorgeous Beasts

Gorgeous Beasts
Author: Joan B. Landes
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2012-09-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0271061421

Gorgeous Beasts takes a fresh look at the place of animals in history and art. Refusing the traditional subordination of animals to humans, the essays gathered here examine a rich variety of ways animals contribute to culture: as living things, as scientific specimens, as food, weapons, tropes, and occasions for thought and creativity. History and culture set the terms for this inquiry. As history changes, so do the ways animals participate in culture. Gorgeous Beasts offers a series of discontinuous but probing studies of the forms their participation takes. This collection presents the work of a wide range of scholars, critics, and thinkers from diverse disciplines: philosophy, literature, history, geography, economics, art history, cultural studies, and the visual arts. By approaching animals from such different perspectives, these essays broaden the scope of animal studies to include specialists and nonspecialists alike, inviting readers from all backgrounds to consider the place of animals in history and art. Combining provocative critical insights with arresting visual imagery, Gorgeous Beasts advances a challenging new appreciation of animals as co-inhabitants and co-creators of culture. Aside from the editors, the contributors are Dean Bavington, Ron Broglio, Mark Dion, Erica Fudge, Cecilia Novero, Harriet Ritvo, Nigel Rothfels, Sajay Samuel, and Pierre Serna.

Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction

Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction
Author: Michelle Nijhuis
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2021-03-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1324001690

Winner of the Sierra Club's 2021 Rachel Carson Award One of Chicago Tribune's Ten Best Books of 2021 Named a Top Ten Best Science Book of 2021 by Booklist and Smithsonian Magazine "At once thoughtful and thought-provoking,” Beloved Beasts tells the story of the modern conservation movement through the lives and ideas of the people who built it, making “a crucial addition to the literature of our troubled time" (Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction). In the late nineteenth century, humans came at long last to a devastating realization: their rapidly industrializing and globalizing societies were driving scores of animal species to extinction. In Beloved Beasts, acclaimed science journalist Michelle Nijhuis traces the history of the movement to protect and conserve other forms of life. From early battles to save charismatic species such as the American bison and bald eagle to today’s global effort to defend life on a larger scale, Nijhuis’s “spirited and engaging” account documents “the changes of heart that changed history” (Dan Cryer, Boston Globe). With “urgency, passion, and wit” (Michael Berry, Christian Science Monitor), she describes the vital role of scientists and activists such as Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, reveals the origins of vital organizations like the Audubon Society and the World Wildlife Fund, explores current efforts to protect species such as the whooping crane and the black rhinoceros, and confronts the darker side of modern conservation, long shadowed by racism and colonialism. As the destruction of other species continues and the effects of climate change wreak havoc on our world, Beloved Beasts charts the ways conservation is becoming a movement for the protection of all species including our own.

A New Zealand Book of Beasts

A New Zealand Book of Beasts
Author: Annie Potts
Publisher: Auckland University Press
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2014-03-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1869407725

Touching on indigenous Maori relationships with the now-extinct, flightless moa; the attitudes of Pakeha, or European, settlers toward sheep; the iconography of whales and dolphins; the problems of pest-control; and the pleasures of pet-keeping, this modern-day bestiary is a fascinating study of human–animal relations. In the book’s four parts, the authors unravel the contradictory ways New Zealanders nurture and eradicate, glorify and demonize, cherish and devour, and describe and imagine animals. The study brings together insights from New Zealand’s arts and literature, popular culture, historiography, media, and everyday life to describe and analyze their interactions with nga kararehe and nga manu, the beasts and birds of the land. In doing so, it illuminates fundamental aspects of New Zealand society: how New Zealanders understand their own identities and those of others; how they regard, inhabit and make use of the natural world; and how they think about what they buy, eat, wear, watch, and read. Rich, multifaceted, and engaging, A New Zealand Book of Beasts satisfyingly explores how culture both shapes and is shaped by the “beasts” of Aotearoa.

Savages and Beasts

Savages and Beasts
Author: Nigel Rothfels
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2008-07-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 0801898099

To modern sensibilities, nineteenth-century zoos often seem to be unnatural places where animals led miserable lives in cramped, wrought-iron cages. Today zoo animals, in at least the better zoos, wander in open spaces that resemble natural habitats and are enclosed, not by bars, but by moats, cliffs, and other landscape features. In Savages and Beasts, Nigel Rothfels traces the origins of the modern zoo to the efforts of the German animal entrepreneur Carl Hagenbeck. By the late nineteenth century, Hagenbeck had emerged as the world's undisputed leader in the capture and transport of exotic animals. His business included procuring and exhibiting indigenous peoples in highly profitable spectacles throughout Europe and training exotic animals—humanely, Hagenbeck advertised—for circuses around the world. When in 1907 the Hagenbeck Animal Park opened in a village near Hamburg, Germany, Hagenbeck brought together all his business interests in a revolutionary zoological park. He moved wild animals out of their cages and into "natural landscapes" alongside "primitive" peoples from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the islands of the Pacific. Hagenbeck had invented a new way of imagining captivity: the animals and people on exhibit appeared to be living in the wilds of their native lands. By looking at Hagenbeck's multiple enterprises, Savages and Beasts demonstrates how seemingly enlightened ideas about the role of zoos and the nature of animal captivity developed within the essentially tawdry business of placing exotic creatures on public display. Rothfels provides both fascinating reading and much-needed historical perspective on the nature of our relationship with the animal kingdom.

The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents and Insects

The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents and Insects
Author: Edward Topsell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 621
Release: 2013-11-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1136956506

First Published in 1967. This is volume one of three of The History of Four- footed Beasts taken principally from the ‘ Historite Animalium’ of Conrad Gesner. During the first decade of the seventeenth century, when Topsell prepared his translation, zoology had just become a science. It has a unique place: It was the first major book on animals printed in Great Britain in English; and it appeared at the last moment in history when all zoological knowledge since antiquity could be summarized sympathetically, before it was rendered a curiosity by the many new discoveries soon to come.

The Book of Mythical Beasts and Magical Creatures

The Book of Mythical Beasts and Magical Creatures
Author: DK
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2020-10-13
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0744037433

Meet your favourite monsters, fairies, heroes, and tricksters from all around the world! Enter the enchanting world of mythical creatures and explore the history behind them in this beautifully-illustrated Greek mythology book for children aged 5-9. You’ll meet an incredible cast of mind-boggling fictional animals from all around the world. Say hello to Bigfoot in the forests of North America and learn about the Native American traditions that inspired its story. Voyage to Japan to meet kitsune, supernatural nine-tailed foxes that can turn into humans. Then jump onboard an ancient storm-battered ship to learn why mermaids were the last thing a sailor wanted to see! Learn about the societies that spawned these legendary creatures, from Ancient Greece to the indigenous tribes of Australia, and find out what the beasts tell us about the people who created them. With magic and mystery in every page, your child can discover: - Facts behind the myths - Insights into cultures from around the world and their creation stories - Stunning full-colour illustrations by Pham Quang Phuc Mythical Beasts and Magical Creatures tells you everything you need to know about supernatural animals great and small. Perfect for fans of Harry Potter and other fantasy tales, this mythology book for children is the only kids’ guide to magical creatures that explores the history behind the mythology in both an engaging and educational way. A must-have volume for children aged 5-9 with an interes in fantasy tale, Mythical Beasts and Magical Creatures is filled with supernatural stories that brings the history of mythology and magical creatures to life, and explores the societies that birthed these legendary creatures found in narratives from Ancient Greek mythology, Australian and Native American folktales. From narwhal tusks inspiring the legend of unicorns, to dinosaur bones creating rumours of dragons, there is an interesting story behind every magical beast. This beautifully-illustrated fantasy book for kids is wonderful for children who like to delve into enchanting stories and magical creatures.