we love you we love you @dogtoldme - Tumblr Blog

horse-reference

"Major" Draft cross gelding (bay roan)

jesush8r

Variations of Isle of the Dead

by Arnold Bocklin, Swiss Symbolist

1880

1883

1884

1886

1901

vintagerpg

Now, unlike Michael Newton’s book of hope, I appreciate the clarity of this book’s title: Encyclopedia of Things that Never Where (1985). Stating that definitively really gets all that belief malarkey out of the way and lets us appreciate these things on their own imaginary terms (as Georgess McHargue encouraged us to do on Monday).

This book is more like a collection of several small topical encyclopedias, each discrete from the others and in their own alphabetical order. Nor do they necessarily make a perfect or intuitive sense all the way through. Things of the Cosmos is mostly gods of major mythologies, but also King Arthur and his knights. Things of the Ground and Underground collects faeries and tree spirits, but also the manticore, Minotaur and Sphinx. Things of Wonderland seems to imply things from literature, but really it collects all manner of fantastical places, from fiction, but also from legend. Things of Magic, Science and Invention could just as well have been called Things and left it at that; it collects notable items, from Thor’s hammer to Jekyll’s potion to the many unusual uses for nails. Things of Water, Sky and Air covers all the creatures not detailed in Earth chapter — Grendel is here, griffins, too, and all the sea serpents. Finally, Things of the Night details the undead and other creatures who hide from the sun, whether they go bump or not.

Robert Ingpen’s art throughout is a pure joy. There are so many illustrations, the book is awash in them, and they’re all amazing, often subverting expectation but also remaining recognizable. There’s a warmth to it, like sitting by a fire, and he has a real talent for collaging together different elements that feels less museum-like and more evokes the crowded study of an eccentric scholar. I can’t imagine the amount of time it took to put together this portfolio, but it was well worth it. It’s a treasure.

70sscifiart

Robert Ingpen's illustration of that Aztec god felt very familar to me, so I looked it up - it seems likely he swiped the mask from this 1976 Dean Ellis cover for To Live Forever by Jack Vance. But perhaps they were both using the same reference material?