This week, Rediscovered Realms is taking you behind the veil of our mysterious world through the pages of the superbly interesting & illustrated book, “Breverton's Phantasmagoria: A Compendium of Monsters, Myths and Legends”.
Here’s the description from the back cover:
“A Cornucopia of Mythical Places, People, Beings and Beasts
Where does the boogeyman come from?
What creatures feast on faithful men?
How do you defeat a minotaur?
What really riles a dragon?
Where would you find real-life werewolves?
What happened to Atlantis?
From dragons, vampires, werewolves and fairies to flying carpets, lost cities and modern-day mysteries, this delightful compendium of over 250 weird and wonderful legends, myths and monsters will entertain and astound anyone enthralled by the unknown.”
Wow! Let’s crack it open and explore.
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This is a book cover that’s caught my eye over the years at the local Barnes & Noble bookstore, but I’d always put off purchasing it (due to the already ever-present large load of books in my arms).
Well, last month it made it outside the store with me (yes, I paid for it) . . . where it has since sat in my “to be read and find a damn place for it” pile.
Until now.
Published in 2011, exactly on September 1st (coincidence, I think not!) by Terry Breverton - Welsh writer, businessman, academic, world traveler and avid researcher - this book rocks!
Part bestiary, part history, part encyclopedia, this medium-sized tome contains entries on everything from Merlin to Amelia Earhart. The author himself states:
“This book is intended to be entertaining, and is written in the full knowledge that in 3000 years time our descendants will view us as just as primitive and non-rational as we regard our early ancestors.
However, some beliefs, places, people and animals are ‘magical’ and ‘mysterious’ in so many ways.
To lose our sense of wonder at the diversity of life and how history has shaped us, is to lose sight of the purpose of life.
This is a magical, exciting planet, which has always been full of wonder and it always will be.”
The book’s contents are organized into 8 mouth-watering sections:
Mysterious, Magical and Weird People
Mythical Monsters, Ghosts and Things That Go Bump in the Night
Magical Places of Legend and Reality
Flying Monsters, Mysteries, Odd Happenings, Strange Sightings and Legends
Mysteries of the Deep
Strange Artefacts, Buildings, Maps and Writings
Tales of Secret Treasure
The Reality of Legends and Myths
Now, for any long-time readers here, just those chapter descriptions alone are probably elevating your heart rate and lighting up your imagination.
I shudder to think how much time I would have spent as a kid with this book and the adventures to be had hunting down these curiosities in real life!
Of course, most of the places & artefacts listed were far removed from my locale, but with a little imagination, they could’ve still been attainable. (It was hard enough feeling disappointed for not growing up in Oregon where I could’ve hunted down the treasure of One-eyed Willy.)
And talk about illustrations! This book has hundreds of woodcut-style black & white/sepia illustrations from past ages that makes it feel like you’ve purchased a well-traveled explorer’s personal account, or a tome of ancient knowledge reserved for those who seek to be admitted into a really cool cult (robes not included).
Even the index has cool illustrations spread throughout!
Unfortunately, the picture credits only cite two sources: “Dover Publications” and Public Domain - so without further research, we’ll never know the provenance of these ancestral artists.
If you like myths, fables & fairytales, check out this past issue from Rediscovered Realms:
The book is extremely well laid out and the pages are of thick stock and good quality.
Typically, this would be the type of reading material I would take with me to the, ahem, lavatory for lavatorial pursuits, and yes, it’s perfect for those kinds of exertions. However, the biggest reason for me was the wish to help inspire ideas for writing fun fantastical stories & RPG adventures and to keep it on the shelf as a fun reference.
The entries are mostly bite-sized chunks that do just enough to pique curiosity for further research as well as get the juices flowing.
I didn’t mention this earlier, but the other reason I kept putting off purchasing this book was its title, “Phantasmagoria”. Being a product of the 80s, that term to me always meant blood & horror, which was never my thing (“Evil Dead” aside . . .), so it was fascinating to learn the term’s history:
“‘Phantasmagoria’ is the art of creating supernatural illusions, the gathering of phantoms or fantasies.
The name was given to a projection ghost show in the 18th century in which a modified magic lantern projected frightening images of demons, skeletons and ghosts onto walls, smoke or semi-transparent screens, sometimes using a technique of rear projection.”
-from the Introduction of Breverton's Phantasmagoria: A Compendium of Monsters, Myths and Legends
What a fitting name for a book that is exactly “the gathering of phantoms or fantasies”.
2 compendiums of mythical fantastic treasures with covers by Boris Vallejo? Check out this past edition of Rediscovered Realms:
So many fascinating topics to uncover within these pages!
Something that was hugely fun for my classmates and I in elementary school was reading anything that was Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Not sure what it was about those books and magazines (and museums!), but it just struck me how much Phantasmagoria fills the void of ol’ Ripley’s stuff - just in a less comic book-y format.
Ripley's Believe It or Not! (The National Enquirer for kids)
And finally, here’s just a couple more pictures I couldn’t resist squeezing in.
There’s just such an abundance of monster, myth & legend goodness! Hope you enjoyed our tour.
If you want to pick up your very own copy of “Phantasmagoria: A Compendium of Monsters, Myths and Legends”, it’s on sale at Amazon (at the time of this writing) for 44% off!
“It's hard to overstate Greenberg and Woodhead's influence on RPGs and PC gaming. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord was one of the first recognizable RPGs you could play on a home computer, a translation of tabletop RPGs and the games developed for the mighty PLATO mainframes present on college campuses at the time to the humble Apple II.”
Wow - I totally forgot about this game and how much joy it brought back in the days of whirring floppy drives, monochrome monitors, and beep-do-staticy-boop-sounding modems. Thank you, Andrew.
And finally, you know how excited I get with new Tolkien stuff. Well, for the 1st time EVER, 51 years after his death (exactly 51 years tomorrow - coincidence, I think not!), a 3-volume collection of J.R.R. Tolkien’s poems will be published by Harper Collins on September 17th!
Before Christopher Tolkien’s death in 2020, he was working hard with expert husband & wife team, Christina Scull and Wayne Hammond to get his father’s poetic talent out into the world. “This will show even more Tolkien’s love of language, his love of words”, Hammond said.
60 of the almost 200 poems have NEVER been seen before.
“They express his love of nature and the seasons, of landscape and music, and of words. They convey his humor and his sense of wonder.”
You can pre-order “The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien Box Set” on Amazon right now for 10% off (at the time of this writing)
Quite a cool looking book. I checked out something similar from the library as a kid. I remember it used classical illustrations which just made the monsters feel more "real". I always remembered the "blemayees", the race of men who carried their own heads, or had heads in their chests.
I think this is one of the reasons Ive always prefered fantasy that uses actual legendary creatures,they feel more authentic. In my d&d days, I strayed away from the obviously created creatures like gelitous cubes or rust monsters, because they had no mythology behind them.
Quite a cool looking book. I checked out something similar from the library as a kid. I remember it used classical illustrations which just made the monsters feel more "real". I always remembered the "blemayees", the race of men who carried their own heads, or had heads in their chests.
I think this is one of the reasons Ive always prefered fantasy that uses actual legendary creatures,they feel more authentic. In my d&d days, I strayed away from the obviously created creatures like gelitous cubes or rust monsters, because they had no mythology behind them.
You’re right J.Q. That looks an excellent source of inspiration for fantasy stories! It’s added to my list.
Also, I had a chuckle with you saying blood and horror wasn’t really your thing apart from The Evil Dead. That’s a pretty significant exception! 😁