From artist Hope Christofferson and Page Street Publishing, Loreland Bestiary: An Illustrated Mythology of the World’s Most Fantastical Creatures is beautiful, whimsical, and educational. Filled with lavish watercolor illustrations of over 75 creatures and supplemented by stories from their respective culture’s mythology, this is perfect for any fan of myths and fairy tales.
In fact, I immediately requested a press copy when I learned of the book because I love fairy tales and knew exactly which book I’d put Loreland Bestiary next to on my shelf of fairy tale and related books!
The decorated pages are in the style of medieval manuscripts with full-color pages and gold-foiled lettering, organized by where the creatures are most likely to be found. Above the clouds, beneath the waves, among the trees, across the plains, and atop the mountains.
As Christofferson explains in the introduction, naturalists have tried to organize the mythical using evolutionary taxonomy and etymology. Of course doing so is kind of impossible since mythical creatures don’t follow “real world” rules nor our taxonomies so “Loreland is a renewed attempt at cataloguing the essences of mythical beings, lest they swim off into the abyss of times past.”
Organizing the creatures by areas of the environment instead of by areas of a map any of us would recognize keeps the entire project fantastical as it should be, but still reveals just how cross-cultural so many creatures and myths are as the main location one might find a creature is listed. The inside covers also have a map of the world. Can you count how many creatures are found in the map?
It’s clear that Loreland Bestiary is a labor not only love, but of time. When asked about her favorite creature, Christofferson explained the long-term work that it took just to create one of the creatures.
“My favorite creature, well all of these paintings were made while traveling, and having some sort of experience made me want to focus on learning more about them. One of the best memories I have is of making the Ningyo, a Japanese siren known for crying tears of pearls. I painted her in the summer of 2022 while I was living in an artist residency in Denmark. I had just graduated from college, and was on my own for the first time, so connecting with childhood via myth was a great way for me to gain purpose and direction.
The residency was a place hidden in the quiet woods of the countryside, nestled next to a sea town. Denmark is the home of the Little Mermaid, a fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson. There are many public sculptures made in homage to the fantastical beings he brought to life. Seeing how imagination, if given enough time and attention, can grow from an idea in a storyteller’s mind into a shared cultural experience was quite inspiring. So although I was a bit homesick, and sometimes cried like the Ningyo, those tears became the pearls of expression that later bloomed into Loreland! We must make pearls from sand, and love all the creatures living in the sky, sea, and land.”
Each creature receives two pages in Loreland Bestiary, so the second page for the Ningyo lists the main region it can be found, its life span, diet, size, and habitat followed by descriptions of the creature and common traits. The only drawback to the style of the book is that there are no real footnotes, but there are a list of other books to look into if you’re interested in learning more about some of the creatures.
A bestiary is only as good as its art and Christofferson’s watercolors are gorgeous. Each creature is meticulously painted with plenty of personality.
I would hang prints of all the illustrations on my wall, and that’s exactly the goal that Christofferson had in mind.
“DaVinci said art is never really finished, only abandoned. I feel this way about all of my work. It could always be a bit more polished, but for this project I knew how resolved each piece needed to be in order to keep the overarching feel of Loreland constant throughout the pages. With any commercial project, the further it develops, the clearer the aesthetic becomes, and what was loose becomes a bit more rigid. I like to ask myself if I would like a piece to hang on my wall, and if I could stand to live with it frozen for the rest of time, then I know it is ok if I walk away and dance with another idea.”
I loved reading the bestiary and looking at the art and know that it’s something I’ll share with friends and loved ones! You can grab a copy on Bookshop and any bookstore.
Christofferson also has an Etsy with prints of the art from Loreland Bestiary in their original field notes version and a podcast.
Images and review copy courtesy of Page Street Publishing
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