#imaginativecreatures

Blue and ornamental embroidered bird in traditional style

Marvels of things. Fantasical creatures. Human Beasts.

Meet the frog man, squid super dog, flying fish monster, and more! Let these oddities fill your imagination during this month of #PageFrights. We also loved all the alternate titles, so we included them below!

'Aja'ib al-makhluqat (Rylands Persian MS 37) Alternate transliteration Title:  'Adja'ib al-makhlukat Alternate Title: Oddities from the  Creation Alternate Title: Prodigies of  things created and miraculous aspects of things existing Alternate Title: 'Adja'ib  al-makhlukat wa-ghara'ib al-mawdjudat Alternate  Title: Marvels of things created Alternate  Title: Wonders of Creation Translated  Title: Cosmography

Manuscripts al-Qazwini  (b. Qazvin ca. 1203/600 AH, Iranian), author Shiraz, Shiraz,  Ostan-e Fars, Iran ca. 1440 24.8 x  16.5 cm Timurid; Persian Islamic; Iran opaque  watercolor on paper. Ink, gold al-Qazwini  (b. Qazvin ca. 1203/600 AH, Iranian), author

Read more at: Persis Berlekamp. Wonder,  Image, and Cosmos in Medieval Islam. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011. 

Sea creatures and monsters in Prayer Book of Charles the Bold

Fierce beasts and creatures often appeared on the pages of Medieval manuscripts. They can be fantastical and scary, but also very imaginative.

Take a close look, and you’ll find four fearsome sea monsters, in addition to several strange creatures flying in the sky. What are they?

Prayer book of Charles the Bold is a small intimate book, measuring 12.4 × 9.2 cm (4 7/8 × 3 5/8 in.) The miniatures are incredibly detailed and require close looking. Holding the manuscript facsimile in your hands gives you a new appreciation and understanding for the relationships people might have had with their personal prayer books in the Middle Ages. You can also imagine the kinds of nightmares they might have had from contemplating images of these creatures.