Monsters Display in the Library

We've been celebrating monsters this past week at the Institute of Classical Studies. In honour of this, Deputy Librarian, Paul Jackson, has put together a display of monster-related rare books.


Why not venture down to the library to explore some of the treasures from our collection?

Map featuring sea monsters by Gerhard Mercator (see below for detail)

The books on display include:


Homer's Odyssey, translated by Henry Cotterill and illustrated by Patten Wilson

The Sirens, illustrated by Patten Wilson

Geography of Ptolemy, with maps and monsters as imagined by Gerhard Mercator

Detail from map by Gerhard Mercator showing a sea monster

Peintures antiques et inédites de vases grecs tirées de diverses collections, complete with illustrations

Heracles struggling with the sea-god, Nereus by James Millingen

The display also includes images and descriptions of the Sphinx; a depiction and analysis of the Centaurs battling the Lapiths on the Parthenon Frieze; two dictionaries, open to definitions for monstrum and τέρας; images and translations of Odysseus escaping the deadly Scylla and Charybdis; Dryden's translation of Virgil's Polyphemus, the one-eyed giant, and more.

The display will be available to view until the end of October.

If you want more monsters in your life, don't forget to check out part 1 and part 2 of our monster books reading list.