this work is an encyclopedic collection -- undoubtedly the largest royalty-free collection of its kind -- of devils, dragons, mythical creatures, fanciful beasts, animal-gods, totemic figures, and other supernatural beasts from the darker regions of man's imagination. Spanning many cultures and eras, the collection ranges from prehistoric rock paintings to the drawings of Max Ernst, from the masks of black Africa to the gargoyles of Notre Dame.
This volume incudes over 1,000 renderings of designs from ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Middle East: winged lions, harpies, griffins, satyrs, dragons, and more. Medieval centuries are represented by a wealth of monsters, demons, centaurs, and other creatures from The Book of Kells, anonymous Viking artists, and the works of Hieronymus Bosch, Dürer, and others. Global in scope, this vast trove also includes hundreds of non-European imagery: papier-mache masks from Latin America, Oriental deities and demons, feathered serpents from pre-Columbian Aztec and Mayan sources, Navajo sand paintings, and more.