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Just like we do today, people in medieval times struggled with the concept of human exceptionalism and the significance of other creatures. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the medieval bestiary. Sarah Kay's exploration of French and Latin bestiaries offers fresh insight into how this prominent genre challenged the boundary between its human readers and other animals. Bestiaries present accounts of animals whose fantastic behaviors should be imitated or avoided, depending on the given trait. In a highly original argument, Kay suggests that the association of beasts with books is here both literal and material, as nearly all surviving bestiaries are copied on parchment made of animal skin, which also resembles human skin. Using a rich array of examples, she shows how the content and materiality of bestiaries are linked due to the continual references in the texts to the skins of other animals, as well as the ways in which the pages themselves repeatedly—and at times, it would seem, deliberately—intervene in the reading process. A vital contribution to animal studies and medieval manuscript studies, this book sheds new light on the European bestiary and its profound power to shape readers'own identities.

Animals in art. --- Animals in literature. --- Animals, Mythical, in art. --- Animals, Mythical, in literature. --- Bestiaries --- Bestiaries. --- Bestiarium. --- Books and reading --- Books and reading. --- Human-animal relationships in art. --- Human-animal relationships. --- Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval --- Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval. --- Manuscripts, Medieval. --- Mensch. --- Mittelalter. --- Parchment. --- mythos. --- History and criticism. --- History --- Themes, motives. --- Animal --- To 1500. --- Europe. --- Manuscripts, Medieval --- Parchment --- Animals in literature --- Animals, Mythical, in literature --- Animals in art --- Animals, Mythical, in art --- Human-animal relationships --- History and criticism --- Bestiaries - History and criticism --- Books and reading - History - To 1500 --- Painting, Medieval --- Vellum --- Hides and skins --- Paper --- Appraisal of books --- Books --- Choice of books --- Evaluation of literature --- Literature --- Reading, Choice of --- Reading and books --- Reading habits --- Reading public --- Reading --- Reading interests --- Reading promotion --- Animal-human relationships --- Animal-man relationships --- Animals and humans --- Human beings and animals --- Man-animal relationships --- Relationships, Human-animal --- Animals --- Animal painting and illustration --- Pets in art --- Wild animals in art --- Zoo animals in art --- Medieval manuscripts --- Manuscripts --- Appraisal --- Evaluation