The Discovery of Dragons

by Graeme Base

Hardcover, 1996

Status

In-library use only

Call number

398.2454

Publication

Harry N. Abrams (1996), Edition: 1st, 32 pages

Description

Collection of "rare historical documents" (chiefly letters and dispatches) written by three intrepid adventurers (a Viking explorer, a Chinese female travelling merchant, and a Prussian explorer/cartographer), describing the famous dragons they discovered.

User reviews

LibraryThing member drbubbles

Meh. For the casual adult reader this is a weak book, more suited for Base and/or dragon enthusiasts, or children.

Apparently just a way to make more money off of an earlier calendar, by slapping the 12 illustrations for it between two covers and tossing in some peripheral cartoons and silly

letters. What's there is mostly harmless, but lacking in the richness of purpose and effect that I find so appealing in his non-rehash works. Also, in the last set of dragons/letters, there are some anachronisms that, disappointingly to me, strongly suggested carelessness, lack of interest, and/or laziness on Base's part (fake references to Darwin from 1847 by a German explorer, but Darwin did not publicize his theory of natural selection until 11 years later; also, one of the peripheral cartoons depicts a metal-hulled, mastless ship in reference to an 1864 event. Weren't no such thing in 1864).

Show Less