The following bibliography does not attempt to be comprehensive but highlights useful works for further study. Substantial bibliographies are found in McCulloch (1962), Clark and McMunn (1989), Hassig (1995). Baxter (1998) and Clark (2006).

The Medieval Bestiary website, hosted by David Badke, contains a very extensive list of sources, many with annotation: http://bestiary.ca/biblios/biblioauthor.htm. This is the easiest bibliographical source to access.

Ancient Sources for Bestiary Illustrations

  • Demus, O. 'Bemerkungen zum Physiologus von Smyrna', Jahrbuch der Österreichische Byzantinistik, 25, 1976, 235-257.
  • Friend, A.M. 'The Portraits of the Evangelists in Greek and Latin Manuscripts', in an extra number of the American Journal of Archaeology, Cambridge, 1927, 114-147.
  • Kadar, Z. Survivals of Greek Zoological Illuminations in Byzantine Manuscripts, Budapest 1978.
  • Muratova,X. 'Problemes de l'origine et des sources des cycles d'illustrations des MSS des Bestiaires', in Actes du IV Colloque International "Epopée Animale" Fable et Fabliau, Evreux 8-11 Sept 1981, Rouen 1984b, 383-408.
  • Muratova, X. 'Adam donne leurs noms aux animaux', in Studi Medievali, 3rd ser, A Gustavo Vinay, XVIII, pt II, 1977, 367-94.
  • Nissen ,C. Zoologische Buchillustration, II, Stuttgart, 1971-2.
  • Spatharakis, I. The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts, Leiden 1976, 153ff.
  • Strzygowski, Josef, ''Der Bilderkreis des greichischen Physiologus', Byzantinisches Archiv, Heft 2, 1899, 1-130.
  • Toynbee, J.M.C. Animals in Roman Life and Art, London 1973.
  • Woodruff, H. 'The Physiologus of Bern: a survival of Alexandrian style in a ninth- century manuscript', Art Bulletin, 12, 1930, 226-53.
  • Zahlten, J.Creatio Mundi: Darstellungen der sechs Schöpfungstage und naturwissenschaftliches Weltbild im Mittelalter, Stuttgart 1979. About the Creation Cycle.

The Texts

  • Ambrose, Saint, Hexaemeron, ed. C.Schenkl. vol XXXII, part 1, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vienna 1937.
  • Ambrose, Saint, Hexaemeron, in Saint Ambrose: Hexaemeron, Paradise, and Cain and Abel, trans. J.Savage, New York 1961.
  • Aelian, On Animals, 3 vols. ed. A.F.Schofield, Loeb edition, London, 1958, 1971,1972.
  • Aristotle, History of Animals, Books 7-10, trans. D.M.Balme, Loeb edition, London, 1991.
  • Bernardus Silvestris, The Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris, trans. Winthrop Wetherbee, NewYork 1990.
  • Carmody, F.J. (ed.) Physiologus Latinus: editions preliminaires versio B, Paris 1939.
  • Carmody, F.J. (ed.)'Physiologus Latinus Versio Y', University of California Publications in Classical Philology, XII, 1941, 95-134.
  • Carmody, F.J. (trans.) Physiologus, San Francisco 1953.
  • Curley, Michael J. (trans.) Physiologus, a medieval book of nature lore, Chicago, 2009.
  • Clark, Willene B., The medieval Book of Birds: Hugh of Fouilloy's Aviarium, Binghampton 1992.
  • Cook A.S., The Old English Elene, Phoenix and Physiologus, Newhaven 1919.
  • Hugo of St Victor, De Bestiis et aliis rebus, ed. J.P.Migne, Patrologia lat. CLXXVII. cols 15-164, Paris 1844-55.
  • Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive originum Libri XX, ed. E.M.Lindsay, Oxford 1911.
  • Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, Livre XII, Des Animaux, ed. and trans. Jacques André, Paris 1986.
  • McCulloch F. Medieval Latin and French Bestiaries (1962). This contains a full list of the literature.
  • Pliny, Natural History Book XXXVII, trans. D.E.Eicholz, London 1971.
  • Rabanus Maurus, Allegoriae in universam sacram scripturae, ed. J.P.Migne, Patrologia latina, 122: 849-1088, De Universo, PL 111:9-614.
  • Solinus, Collectanea rerum memorabilium, ed. Th. Mommsen, Berlin 1864.

Physiologus and the Bestiary

  • Benton, Janetta Rebold, The medieval menagerie: animals in the art of the middle ages, New York 1992.
  • Clark, Willene and Meradith T.McMunn, Birds and Beasts of the Middle Ages: the Bestiary and its Legacy, Philadelphia,1989. Considerable bibliography to up-date McCulloch.
  • George, Wilma and Yapp B, Naming of the Beasts: natural history in the middle ages, London 1991. The zoologists approach.
  • Goldschmidt, A. An early manuscript of the Aesop's Fables of Avianus and related manuscripts. Princetown 1947.
  • Hassig D., Medieval Bestiaries, text, image, ideology, Cambridge 1995. Comprehensive recent bibliography.
  • Klingender, F. Animals in Art and Thought to the end of the middle ages, London, 1971.
  • Rowland B. Animals with human faces, Knoxville, 1973.
  • Salisbury J.E. ed. The medieval world of nature: a book of essay, New York 1993.
  • Steiger C.von and O.Homburger , Physiologus Bernensis, Basel 1964. Facsimile.
  • White, T.H. The Book of Beasts, London,1954. An annotated and illustrated translation of Cambridge U.L. MS Ii.4.26.
  • White, Lynn Jr, 'Natural science and naturalistic art in the middle ages', American Historical Review, LII, 1947, 421-35.
  • Wittkower R. 'Marvels of the East': a study in the history of Monsters', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 5, 1942, 159-97.
  • Yapp, B. Birds in Medieval Manuscripts. British Library, 1981.

Specific Animals

  • Armitage, P.L. and J.A.Goodall, 'Medieval horned and polled sheep: the archaeological and iconographic evidence.' Archaeological Journal, LVII, 1977.
  • Bibolet, Francoise, 'Portraits d'oiseaux illustrant le De Avibus d'Hugues de Fouilloy (Manuscript de Clairvaux, Troyes 177)' in Mélanges à la mémoire du Père Anselme Dimier, ed. B.Chauvin, Beernem 1984, pt 2, vol.4, 409-47.
  • Broek, R.van den, The myth of the Phoenix, Leiden 1972.
  • De Clercq, Charles, 'Hugues de Fouilloy, imagier de ses propres oeuvres?' Revue du Nord 45, 1963, 31-42.
  • Druce, G.C. 'The symbolism of the crocodile in the middle ages', Archaeological Journal, LXVI, 1909, 311-338.
  • Druce, G.C. 'The amphisbaena and its connections in ecclesiastical art and architecture', Archaeological Journal, LXVII, (1910) 285-317.
  • Druce, G.C.'Notes on the history of the heraldic Jall or Yale', Archaeological Journal, LXVII, 1911, 173-99.
  • Druce, G.C.'The Elephant in Medieval legend and Art', Archaeological Journal, LXXVI, 1919, 1-73.
  • Druce, G.C. 'The legend of the Serra or Saw-Fish', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2nd series, XXXI, 1919, 20-35.
  • Druce, G.C. 'An account of the mermecoleon or ant-lion', Antiquaries Journal, iii, 1923, 347-364.
  • Duncan, S.T. 'The Weasel in Religion, Myth and Superstition', Washington University Studies (Humanistic Series) XII, 1924, 33-66.
  • Einhorn, J.W. Spiritalis Unicornis, Munich 1976.
  • Evans, J. and M.S.Serjeantson (eds.) 'English Medieval Lapidaries', Early English Text Society, Original Series 190, 1933.
  • George, Wilma, 'The Yale', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 31, 1968, 423-28.
  • Janson, H.W. Apes and Ape lore in the middle ages and renaissance. London 1952
  • Studer, P., Evans, J. Anglo-Norman Lapidaries, Paris 1924.
  • Varty, K. Renard the Fox, Leicester, 1969
  • Varty, K. Reynard, Renart, Reinaert and other foxes in Medieval England. The Iconographic Evidence. Amsterdam, 1999.

The Great English Bestiaries

  • Clark, Willene B, A Medieval Book of Beasts: the second family bestiary, commentary, art, text and translation, Woodbridge 2006
  • Druce, G.C. 'The Caladrius and its legend, sculptured upon the twelfth-century doorway of Alne Church, Yorkshire', Archaeological Journal, LXIX, 1912, 381-416.
  • Druce G.C. 'Some abnormal and composite human forms in English Church Architecture', Archaeological Journal, LXXII, 1915, 135-186.
  • Druce G.C. 'The medieval Bestiaries and their influence on Ecclesiastical Decorative Art', British Archaeological Journal, New Series, XXV, 1919, 41-82; XXVI, 1920, 35-79.
  • Grössinger, Christa, ' English Misericords of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and their relationship to manucsript illuminations', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 38, 1975, 97-108.
  • James, M.R. A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Gonville and Caius College II, Cambridge, 1908, pp420-423, for Gonville and Caius MS 372.
  • James, M.R. The Peterborough Psalter and Bestiary of the fourteenth century [MS 53 in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge], Roxburghe Club 1921.
  • James, M.R. The Bestiary: a reproduction in full of MS Ii. 4.25 in the University Library, Cambridge, Roxburghe Club, 1928.
  • Kauffmann, C.M. Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190, A Survey of Manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles, 3, 1975.
  • Konstantinowa, A. Ein Englisches Bestiar des zwolften Jahrhunderts in der Staatsbibliothek zu Leningrad, Berlin 1929.
  • Miller, E.G. A thirteenth-century Bestiary in the library of Alnwick Castle, Roxburghe Club, Oxford 1958.
  • Morgan, N. Early Gothic Manuscripts 1190-1250 (1), A Survey of Manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles,IV, 1982.
  • Morson, J. 'English Cistercians and the Bestiary', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 39, 1936, 146ff.
  • Muratova, X. The Medieval Bestiary, Moscow 1984c. (facsimile of Leningrad/St Petersburg Bestiary).
  • Muratova, X. 'The Bestiaries, an aspect of medieval patronage' in S.Macready and F.H. Thompson, Art and Patronage in the English Romanesque, London, 1986,118-144.
  • Muratova, X. 'Les cycles des Bestiaires dans le decor sculpté des eglises du XIIe siècle dans le Yorkshire, et leur relation avec les manuscrits des Bestiaires enluminés' Atti del V Colloquio della International Beast, Epic Fable and Fabliau Society, Turin 5-9 September 1983, 1987, 337-353.
  • Payne. A, Medieval Beasts, London 1990. Full colour illustrations of Bestiaries in the British library.
  • Ross, D.J.A.'A lost painting in Henry II's palace, Westminster' Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 16, 1953, 60.
  • Sandler, L.F. Gothic Manuscripts,(II): 1285-1385, A Survey of Manuscripts iluminated in the British Isles, 5, 1986. (no.56).
  • Vollständige Faksimile-Ausgabe im Originalformat der Handschrift MS Douce 180, Graz 1983. (facsimile).
  • Warner, George. Queen Mary's Psalter: miniatures and drwings from Royal MS 2 B VII in the British Museum, London. London 1912 (facsimile).
  • Yapp, B. 'A new look at English Bestiaries', Medium Aevum, 54, 1985, 1-19.
  • Zahlten J. Creatio Mundi: Darstellungen der sechs Schöpfungstage und naturwissenschaftliches Weltbild im Mittelalter, Stuttgart 1979. An examination of the Creation cycles.
  • Zambon, P. Il Bestiario di Cambridge, Milan 1974.

The Aberdeen and Ashmole Bestiary

  • Alexander, J.J. Medieval Illuminators and their methods of work,1992. About the codicology.
  • Beavan, I. 'Secretary Thomas Reid and the early listing of his manuscripts', Northern Scotland, 16, 1996, 175-85.
  • Carley, James P. 'John Leland and the foundations of the Royal Library: the Westminster Inventory of 1542', Bulletin of the Society for Renaissance Studies, Oct 1989, VII, no.1, 18.
  • Carley, James P. 'Books seen by Samuel Ward 'in bibliotheca regia', circa 1614', The British Library Journal, 16, 1990, 89-98.
  • Carley, James P. The Libraries of King Henry VIII, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues. London: British Academy 2000
  • Clark, Willene B. , The medieval Book of Birds: Hugh of Fouilloy's Aviarium, Binghampton 1992, 73-85, 267-70,296-7.
  • Clark, Willene B, A Medieval Boook of Beasts: the second family bestiary, commentary, art, text and translation, Woodbridge 2006, 21,26, 34, 67-71, 97 passim, 223-26
  • Forrest, S.G. The Aberdeen Bestiary, Aberdeen University M.A. Dissertation, 1979.
  • Hassig, D. Medieval Bestiaries, text, image, ideology, Cambridge 1995.
  • James, M.R. Descriptive catalogue of manuscripts in the library of Aberdeen University, 1932, 18-25.
  • James, M.R. 'The Bestiary in the University Library', Aberdeen University Library Bulletin, VI ,1928, 529.
  • Morgan, N. Early Gothic Manuscripts 1190-1250, I, 1982. nos. 17, 19.
  • Muratova, X. et al, Bestiarium, facsimile du manuscrit du Bestiaire Ashmole 1511, Paris 1984a
  • Muratova, X. 'I manoscritti miniati del bestiario mediovale: origine, formazione e sviluppo dei cicli di illustrationi. I bestiari miniati in Inghilterra nei secoli XII-XIV, ' L'uomo di fronte al mondo animale nell'alto medioevo. Trentunesima Settimana di studio, V. 31. I, 1319-62, Spoleto 1985.
  • Muratova, X, 'Workshop methods in English late twelfth-century illumination and the production of luxury bestiaries' in W.B.Clark and M.T.McMunn, Beasts and birds of the middle ages, Philadelphia, 1989, 53-68.
  • Muratova, X. 'Les manuscrits -frères: un aspect particulier de la production des Bestiaires enluminés en Angleterre a la fin du XIIe siècle' in Artistes artisans et production artistique au Moyen Age, 3 vols, Paris, 1990, 3:69-92.
  • Unterkirche,F. Bestiarium: Die texte der Handschrift Ms. Ashmole 1511 der Bodleian Library, Oxford in lateinischer und deutschen Sprache, Graz, 1986.
  • Vollständige Faksimile-Ausgabe im Originalformat der Handschrift Ms. Ashmole 1511-Bestiarium. Graz, 1982.
  • Zahlten, J. Creatio Mundi: Darstellungen der sechs Schöpfungstage und naturwissenschaftliches Weltbild im Mittelalter, Stuttgart 1979. About the Creation Cycle.

Discussions of the Project

  • Beavan and M.Arnott, 'Beasts on the Screen: the Digitisation of the Aberdeen Bestiary - a Case Study' in Preservation and Digitisation: Principles, Practice, Problems: Proceedings of the National Preservation Office Conference, York, 1996. (London: British Library/NPO, 1998), pp. 58-65.
  • Beavan, M. Arnott & C. A. McLaren 'The Nature of the Beast; or, The Digitisation of the Aberdeen Bestiary', Library Hi Tech 15 no. 3-4 (1997), pp. 50-55.
    Special theme: the best library-related Web sites.
  • Beavan, M. Arnott and C. A. McLaren, 'Text and illustration: the Digitisation of a Mediaeval Manuscript' Computers and the Humanities, 31 (1997), pp. 61-71.
  • Beavan, M. Arnott and J. Milne, 'The Online Bestiary Project' in Electronic Library and Visual Information Research (ELVIRA) 3 Conference, De Montfort University, [Proceedings], ed. by M. Collier and K. Arnold (London: Aslib, 1996, i.e.1997), pp. 137-143.
  • Beavan, M. Arnott and J. Geddes, 'The Aberdeen Bestiary: an Online Medieval Text' Computers & Texts [CTI Textual Studies Newsletter], 11 (1996), pp. 6-8.

Harvard References from the Introduction

  • Baxter, R., Bestiaries and their users in the Middle Ages, Stroud, 1998
  • Carley, James P. 'John Leland and the foundations of the Royal Library: the Westminster Inventory of 1542', Bulletin of the Society for Renaissance Studies, Oct 1989, VII, no.1, 18.
  • Carley James P., 'Books seen by Samuel Ward 'in bibliotheca regia', circa 1614', The British Library Journal, 16, 1990, 89-98. .
  • Carley, James P. The Libraries of King Henry VIII, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues. London: British Academy 2000.
  • Caviness M. H., The windows of Christ Church Cathedral Canterbury, London 1981.
  • Clark Willene B., The Medieval Book of Birds, Hugh of Fouilloy's Aviarium, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies vol.80, Binghampton, 1992
  • Cook A.S., The Old English Elene, Phoenix and Physiologus, Newhaven 1919.
  • Demus O. 'Bemerkungen zum Physiologus von Smyrna', Jahrbuch der Österreichische Byzantinistik, 25, 1976, 235-257.
  • Forrest,S.G. The Aberdeen Bestiary, Aberdeen University M.A.Dissertation, 1979.
  • W.George and B.Yapp The naming of the beasts, London 1991
  • Goldschmidt, A. An early manuscript of the Aesop's Fables of Avianus and related manuscripts. Princetown 1947.
  • Hassig D., Medieval Bestiaries, text, image, ideology, Cambridge 1995.
  • James,M.R. The Bestiary: a reproduction in full of MS Ii. 4.25 in the University Library, Cambridge, Roxburghe Club ,1928.
  • Kauffmann, C.M. Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190, A Survey of Manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles, 3, 1975.
  • Kadar, Z. Survivals of Greek Zoological Illuminations in Byzantine Manuscripts, Budapest 1978.
  • McCulloch F. Medieval Latin and French Bestiaries, Chapel Hill, 1962.
  • Morgan N. Early Gothic Manuscripts 1190-1250 (1), A Survey of Manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles,IV, 1982.
  • Morson J., 'English Cistercians and the Bestiary', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 39, 1936, 146ff.
  • Muratova, X. et al, Bestiarium, facsimile du manuscrit du Bestiaire Ashmole 1511, Paris 1984.
  • Muratova,X. 'Problèmes de l'origine et des sources des cycles d'illustrations des MSS des Bestiaires', in Actes du IV Colloque International "Epopée Animale" Fable et Fabliau, Evreux 8-11,Sept 1981, Rouen 1984, 383-408.
  • Muratova, X. 'The Bestiaries, an aspect of medieval patronage' in S.Macready and F.H. Thompson, Art and Patronage in the English Romanesque, London, 1986,118-144.
  • Muratova, X. 'Les cycles des Bestiaires dans le décor sculpté des eglises du XIIe siècle dans le Yorkshire, et leur relation avec les manuscrits des Bestiaires enluminés' Atti del V Colloquio della International Beast, Epic Fable and Fabliau Society, Turin 5-9 September 1983, 1987, 337-353.
  • Muratova, X, 'Workshop methods in English late twelfth-century illumination and the production of luxury bestiaries' in W.B.Clark and M.T.McMunn, Beasts and birds of the middle ages, Philadelphia, 1989, 53-68.
  • Nissen ,C. Zoologische Buchillustration, II, Stuttgart, 1971-2.
  • Steiger C.von and O.Homburger , Physiologus Bernensis, Basel 1964.
  • Strzygowski, Josef, ''Der Bilderkreis des greichischen Physiologus', Byzantinisches Archiv, Heft 2, 1899, 1-130.
  • Zahlten, J. Creatio Mundi: Darstellungen der sechs Schöpfungstage und naturwissenschaftliches Weltbild im Mittelalter, Stuttgart 1979.