By: Elena Butuzova, Arts, Design, and Media Studies Adjunct Librarian

Learn about the Medieval Folklore: Bestiaries and Monsters book display on the 6th floor of the Rosenthal Library!

Mermaids, unicorns, lions, cats, griffins, and other types of creatures adorned the books of the Middle Ages—often depicted within the ornamentation of letters or between the paragraphs of a book. The book display focuses on the medieval animal illustrations and attempts to expand the folklore of these creatures beyond the bestiary. The book of beasts (known as the bestiary) focused on animal images within the writing of a manuscript in order to highlight an allegorical message about the world, as well as to attribute physical characteristics to an animal that people in Europe may have not seen before (such as lions). Imaginative animals, such as the dragon, were a common motif in bestiaries; however, it is not clear if the medieval world truly believed in the existence of these creatures. Whether it was an exploration of the human imagination, the belief in a fantastical world, or a symbolic representation of the unknown, the bestiary exemplified the colorful and slightly peculiar qualities of medieval folklore.

List of Books

• Bovey, Alixe. Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts. University of Toronto Press, 2002. (ND3339.5 .B68 2002)
• Clark, Willene B, and Meradith T McMunn. Beasts and Birds of the Middle Ages : The Bestiary and Its Legacy. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. (PA8275.B4 Z55 1989)
• Phillpotts, Beatrice. Mermaids. 1st Ballantine books ed. Ballantine Books, 1980. (GR910 .P44 1980)
• Gibson, Walter S. Hieronymus Bosch. Praeger Publishers, 1973. (ND653 .B65 G52)
• Strickland, Debra Higgs. Medieval Bestiaries : Text, Image, Ideology. Cambridge University Press, 1995. (PR275 .B47 H37 1995)
• Clark, Willene B. A Medieval Book of Beasts : The Second-Family Bestiary : Commentary, Art, Text and Translation. Boydell, 2006. (PA8275 .B4 C53 2006)
• Benton, Janetta Rebold. The Medieval Menagerie : Animals in the Art of the Middle Ages. Abbeville Press, 1992. (N7660 .B38 1992)
• Cambridge University Library., and T. H White. The Bestiary : A Book of Beasts : Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century. Capricorn books edition. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1961. (B4 E5 1960)
• Clark, Kenneth. Animals and Men : Their Relationship as Reflected in Western Art from Prehistory to the Present Day. W. Morrow, 1977. (N7660 .C55)
• Zamperini, Alessandra. Ornament and the Grotesque : Fantastical Decoration from Antiquity to Art Nouveau. Thames & Hudson, 2008. (ND2755 .Z3513 2008)
• Link, Luther. The Devil : The Archfiend in Art from the Sixth to the Sixteenth Century. Harry N. Abrams, 1995. (N8140 .L56 1995)
• Benton, Janetta Rebold, and Katonah Museum of Art. Medieval Monsters : Dragons and Fantastic Creatures : Katonah Museum of Art, January 15-April 16, 1995. Katonah Museum of Art, 1994. (N5975 .B467 1994)
• Muchembled, Robert. Damned : An Illustrated History of the Devil. Seuil/Chronicle, 2004. (NX652 .D48 M8313 2004)
• Zuffi, Stefano. The Cat in Art. Abrams, 2007. (ND1380 .Z84 2007)
• Borst, Arno. Medieval Worlds : Barbarians, Heretics, and Artists in the Middle Ages. University of Chicago Press, 1992. (CB351 .B5913 1992)
• Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Peter Barnet, and Pete Dandridge. Lions, Dragons, & Other Beasts : Aquamanilia of the Middle Ages, Vessels for Church and Table. Yale University Press, 2006. (NK8427 .B37 2006)
• Freeman, Margaret B. The Unicorn Tapestries. Metropolitan Museum of Art : distributed by Dutton, 1976. (NK3049 .U5 N43 1976)
• Amor, Anne Clark. Beasts and Bawdy. Taplinger Pub. Co., 1975. (QL791 .C565 1975)
• Yapp, W. B. Birds in Medieval Manuscripts. Schocken Books, 1983. (ND3339 .Y36 1982)
• British Museum., and Frances Carey. The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come. British Museum Press, 1999. (5 .A63 1999)
• Morris, Jan. A Venetian Bestiary. Thames and Hudson, 1982. (N7660 .M67 1982)
• Lehner, Ernst, and Johanna Lehner. Devils, Demons, Death, and Damnation. Dover Publications, 1971. (N8140 .L35)
• Princeton University. Department of Art and Archaeology. Index of Christian Art., and Colum Hourihane. Virtue & Vice : The Personifications in the Index of Christian Art. Edited by Colum Hourihane. Index of Christian Art, Dept. of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University in association with Princeton University Press, 2000. (N8012 .V57 V57 2000)