Bestiary : An Illuminated Alphabet of Medieval Beasts by Jonathan Hunt
Although presented in alphabet-book format, this beautiful volume is certainly not for beginning readers only. Children of all ages will enjoy the rich full-page renderings of their favorite mythical beasts, including amphisbaenae, krakens and wyverns. Both the book's slithery, scary visuals and its informative articles will please older children. Adult monster fans will appreciate its thoughtful foreword and bibliography.
Fabulous Beasts by Alison Lurie Illustrated by Monika Beisner
Fabulous Beasts, one of my long-time favorites, is back for Fall 1999 in a new soft-cover edition. This is beautiful and inexpensive book for young monster lovers. The artist's style, evocative of Medieval tapestry or text-border illustrations, presents creatures in a manner which is both mystical and humorous. (As a child, I was particularly fond of the purple catoblepas, with long, shaggy hair dangling in front of his eyes, presumably to "protect" unwitting readers from his nasty gaze, but at the same time making him look endearingly silly.)
Shapeshifter Tarot by D. J. Conway and Sirona Knight cards by Lisa Hunt
Mythical creature enthusiasts in search of a tarot set that speaks to them may find what they are looking for in this stunning deck. Loosely based on North American and Celtic shamanic principles, this deck's imagery explores transformation themes through the use of chimeric and combined human/animal or human/plant motifs. Wise and inquisitive spirits become griffins, lycanthropes, dryads, stone faces and river-women,and meld fluidly into their totem creatures and sacred environments. This deck is great for traditional divination, meditation or ritual use, or as a unique art piece for display. The book is somewhat light on analysis, so you will probably want to use additional references for the mythological significance of the card motifs, but the cards themselves more than justify the price of the kit.
Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials/Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature and Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy by Wayne Douglas Barlowe, Ian Summers and Beth Meacham Illustrated by Wayne Douglas Barlowe.
Fantasy artist Wayne Douglas Barlowe presents a detailed look at some of Science Fiction and Fantasy literature's most remarkable creatures in these two volumes. Each book contains over 100 great novel recommendations with color illustrations of the artist's favorite monsters . (Some of the books referenced are obscure or out-of-print, so you might want to bring the guides along when you go to the library or second-hand bookshop).
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