Imaginary Bestiary

Spanning eras, from the Middle Ages to the present day, this work aims to create a scientific inventory of imaginary beings, much like a traditional naturalist's guide, by bringing together fantastic or real creatures, as well as the numerous hybrids, between man and animal, described by navigators who set out to discover New Worlds. Voluntarily taking the opposite approach to strictly scientific guides, Julie Delfour offers an amusing nod, associating the cultural with the natural, "human" science with objective science. Unbridled imagination and reality meet and complement each other in this poetic menagerie, these strange or monstrous animals, represented with lavish fanciful details by early great travelers, medieval bestiaries or, later, under the brush of a William Blake, a Delacroix, Victor Hugo or Odilon Redon. Imaginary Bestiary provides detailed portraits of about eighty imaginary creatures, classified into four main categories corresponding to their preferred environment: terrestrial, aerial, underwater, and subterranean. Julie Delfour's fascinating text, rich in scientific, historical, literary, and artistic references, is matched by an attractive and richly illustrated layout.