The Grand Medieval Bestiary: Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts - Hardcover
Synopsis
As the 587 colorful images in this magnificent volume reveal, animals were a constant and delightful presence in illuminated manuscripts throughout the Middle Ages. Many proto-zoological illustrations, of great charm but variable accuracy, are found in the bestiaries, or compendiums of animal lore, that were exceedingly popular in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But animals are depicted in every other sort of illuminated manuscript as well, from the eighth-century Echternach Gospels, with its geometrically schematized symbols of the Evangelists, to the early fifteenth-century Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, with its famously naturalistic scenes of peasant and aristocratic life.
In his insightful opening chapters, the noted art historian Christian Heck explains that the prevalence of animals in illuminated manuscripts reflects their importance in medieval thought, an importance due in part to the agricultural society of that age, in which a variety of species and not just docile pets were the daily companions of man. Animals also had a greater symbolic significance than they do today: in popular fables, such as those of Reynard the Fox, they held up a mirror to the follies of mankind, and on the religious plane, they were understood as an integral part of God’s creation, whose attributes and behaviors could be taken as clues to His plan of salvation.
The main part of the book explores the complex and fascinating iconography of the individual creatures most frequently depicted by medieval miniaturists. It is arranged in the manner of a proper bestiary, with essays on one hundred animals alphabetized by their Latin names, from the alauda, or lark, whose morning song was thought to be a hymn to Creation, to the vultur, which enjoyed a certain respect due to its impressive appearance, but whose taste for carrion also made it a symbol of the sinner who indulges in worldly pleasures. The selection includes a number of creatures that would now be considered fantastic, including the griffin, the manticore, and of course the fabled unicorn, tamable only by a gentle maiden.
Not merely a study of art history, The Grand Medieval Bestiary uses a theme of timeless interest to present a panorama of medieval life and thought that will captivate even the most sophisticated modern reader.
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Product Description
Title: Medieval Bestiary <>Binding: Hardcover <>Author: Christian/Buchanan Heck <>Publisher: ABBEVILLE
Review
"This is a huge and beautiful book that feels almost like a trip to the Cloisters between two covers." —New York Daily News
"Rarely have earnest scholarship and sheer wonder come together as comfortably as they have here. And as magical as the original artworks surely are, this unique volume is literally better than the real thing, since it allows us to ogle them closely." —Fine Art Connoisseur
"Every year I try to reserve the adjective "stunning" for one book. This is it." —The Seattle Times holiday gift guide
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- PublisherAbbeville Press
- Publication date2012
- ISBN 10 0789211270
- ISBN 13 9780789211279
- BindingHardcover
- LanguageEnglish
- Number of pages620
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The Grand Medieval Bestiary : Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts [DELUXE BOXED EDITION]
Published by
Abbeville Press, New York, 2012
ISBN 10: 0789211270
ISBN 13: 9780789211279
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: ERIC CHAIM KLINE, BOOKSELLER (ABAA ILAB), Santa Monica, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: fine. First edition. Folio (15-1/2" x 11" x 3"). 619, (1)pp. Color printed dust jacket over gilt lettered & decorated red cloth, top edge gilt. Housed in a matching color printed, heavy cardboard & cloth slipcase. Illustrated throughout with nearly 600 brilliant enlarged color facsimile miniatures of every period and style. A fine, as new copy. "The Grand Medieval Bestiary: Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts is a splendid pageant of the animal kingdom as the Middle Ages saw it, illustrated with miniatures of every period and style, many never before published. Noted art historian Christian Heck explains that the prevalence of animals in illuminated manuscripts reflects their importance in medieval thought, an importance due in part to the agricultural society of that age, in which a variety of species--and not just docile pets--were the daily companions of man. The main part of the book explores the complex and fascinating iconography of the individual creatures most frequently depicted by medieval miniaturists. It is arranged in the manner of a proper bestiary, with essays on one hundred animals alphabetized by their Latin names. The selection includes a number of creatures that would now be considered fantastic, including the griffin, the manticore, and of course the fabled unicorn, tamable only by a gentle maiden."-- (Publisher) Contents: Man and animal in the medieval world. Poetry, symbols, and presence in the world ; A venerable companionship, ceaselessly reinvented ; Lost paradises, battles, and reconciliations ; A geography of the cosmos : observation and myth ; Hierarchies and contraventions, reason and unreason ; A community of creatures -- One hundred beasts. The ant and the antlion ; The antelope ; The ass, the mule, and the onager ; The basilisk ; The bat ; The bear ; The beaver ; The bee ; The blackbird ; The boar and the pig ; The bonnacon ; Bovines : the bull, the ox, the cow, and the calf ; The butterfly ; The caladrius ; The camel and the dromedary ; The cat ; The centaur ; The cinnamon bird ; The cock and the hen ; The coot ; The crane ; The crocodile ; The crow, the magpie, and the jay ; Crustaceans ; The dog ; The dolphin ; The dove, the pigeon, and the turtledove ; The dragon ; The duck ; The eagle ; The eel and the lamprey ; The elephant ; The ercinee bird or the waxwing ; The falcon and the goshawk ; Fishes ; The fly ; The fox ; The frog and the toad ; The giraffe ; The goose ; The griffin ; The halcyon ; The hedgehog and the porcupine ; The heron ; The hoopoe ; The horse ; The hydra ; The hyena, the leucrota, the crocotta, and the lycaon ; The ibex ; The ibis ; The kite ; The lark ; The lion ; The locust ; The lynx ; The manticore ; The mole ; The monkey ; The mouse ; The nightingale ; The ostrich ; The otter ; The owl and the nycticorax ; The panther ; The parandus and the yale ; The pard and the leopard ; The parrot ; The partridge ; The peacock ; The pelican ; The phoenix ; The quail ; The rabbit and the hare ; The raven ; The salamander ; The satyr and the wild man ; The scorpion ; The seahorse, the hippocampus, and the hippopotamus ; Serpents ; The serra ; Sheep : the ewe, the ram, and the lamb ; The she-goat, the he-goat, and the kid ; Shellfish and mollusks ; The siren ; The snail ; The sparrow and other songbirds ; The spider ; The squirrel ; The stag ; The stork ; The swallow ; The swan ; The tiger ; The tortoise ; The unicorn and the rhinoceros ; The vulture ; The weasel, the genet, and other small carnivores ; The whale ; The wolf ; The worm. (OCLC). Seller Inventory # 53371
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The Grand Medieval Bestiary: Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts
Seller: Big River Books, Powder Springs, GA, U.S.A.
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Condition: good. The box cover is damaged but the book is in great condition. Seller Inventory # BRV.0789211270.G
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The Grand Medieval Bestiary Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts
Published by
Abbeville Press, New York, 2012
ISBN 10: 0789211270
ISBN 13: 9780789211279
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Haymes & Co. Bookdealers, Kingscliff, NSW, Australia
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition. The DELUXE edition. Book, jacket, and slip case all in fine condition; Folio 13" - 23" tall; 620 pages; A most sumptuous publication. Illustrated with nearly 600 colourful miniatures of every period and style, many never before published. Seller Inventory # F7104
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The Grand Medieval Bestiary: Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts
Seller: Jenhams Books, Dundee, United Kingdom
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hardcover. Condition: Fine. First Edition. We have available the beautiful 'The Grand Medieval Bestiary: Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts', Abbeville Press, 2012, First Edition. A hardback First Edition in Fine condition, appears unused, in a similar dustjacket, and complete with original pictorial stout card luxury slipcase, also Fine. Buyers outside UK please note this is a heavy item and will require extra postage - please enquire BEFORE purchasing; we reserve the right to cancel your order without further notice if you do not do this. Thank you. This book is in stock now, in our UK premises. Photos of our books are available on request (dustjacket and cover illustrations vary, and unless the image accompanying the listing is marked 'Bookseller Image', it is an Abebooks Stock Image, NOT our own). BUYERS OUTSIDE UK please also note the following: 1. shipping rates apply to packets of 750g and under, and should the packed weight of an item exceed this we reserve the right to ship via 'Economy', or request extra postage prior to fulfilling the order, or cancel 2. many countries apply import or other taxes - these are the buyers responsibility; we may ask for extra payment to cover any taxes which we have to pay 'up front' on the buyer's behalf. Seller Inventory # mon0000147077
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