What is a Bestiary?
A bestiary (from bestiarum vocabulum) is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson.
The legacy of the bestiary has lasted far beyond the Middle Ages with contemporary artists and printmakers continuing the tradition of the pairing of animal imagery and text, often calling their creations “bestiaries” after the medieval example. Today the term often refers to any collection of descriptions of animals, whether in words or images, but not necessarily with associated allegories or Christian connotations.
The collaboration : The process
PCANZ members are invited to express their interest in being involved in this project from late March to October 2022. Each participant in this project will randomly be given a letter from A to Z by an area coordinator, from which to create a design. The design will be printed by each participant, then will be later collated into a book.
A bestiary (from bestiarum vocabulum) is a compendium of beasts, often referring to any collection of descriptions of animals, whether in words or images.
To find out more go to the Project Brief below:
PCANZ Bestiary Books Now in Auckland War Memorial Museum Collection
ABC Bestiary Book Collaborative Project, 2022
We are very pleased to announce that an archival set of four Bestiary Books has been acquired by the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the books have now been handed over to their care.
So, to those many members who participated in this popular collaborative project, we are delighted that you now have a piece of your work included in the museum’s collection.
To jog your memory of the original project, PCANZ printmakers were randomly assigned a letter from A to Z and invited to create designs of an imaginary or real, creature or animal, relating to their letter. While the printmakers were free to choose their own method of printing, their prints were all to be made on uniform-sized vellum paper in portrait format.
The edition of thirty prints each, enabled every contributor to have their own copy of the full A – Z set, along with extra sets for archival purposes. The title pages and contributors’ pages were letterpress printed by PCANZ member Terrie Reddish.
There was so much enthusiasm for this project that four different bestiaries were produced: North, East, South & West, and NZ & Wales. The “NZ & Wales” bestiary includes eight additional letters of the Welsh alphabet created by members of Aberystwyth Printmakers in Wales.
This set of four books were bound by PCANZ member Toni Hartill following discussions with the Associate Curator for Heritage Publications, Paula Legel, for the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
The books are bound using “Shrigley binding”, a binding technique as designed by Ben Elbel.
Visit https://benelbel.com/products/shrigley-tutorial for more information on the technique and restrictions on sharing the process.
**Please make a careful note of Ben Elbel's sensitivity to the Shrigley Binding process being shared without his permission.
The cover design incorporates beasts from within all four volumes and is a linocut printed onto Kozo paper, designed and created by Toni Hartill.
Each book edition can be viewed below.
The books will be added to the Heritage Book Collection.
Once they have been catalogued you will be able to search for them online on the museum website https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/
To request to view the books or any items in the collection click ENQUIRE under the catalogue entry and complete the form to make an appointment or go to https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/library for more information.
Any questions about anything in the collection please email the Associate Curator of Heritage Publications, Paula Legel plegel@aucklandmuseum.com
ABC Bestiary Book - North Edition
ABC Bestiary Book - East Edition
ABC Bestiary Book - South & West Edition
ABC Bestiary Book - NZ & Wales Edition