#believe in mermaids

Happy mer-May from Wilson Library Special Collections!

This particular mer-man is found in the pages of Wilson Library’s copy of  Pavli Macii Emblemata…(1628).

As you know, our librarians here at Wilson Library love finding all the mermaids in our special collections.  So today, when we came across multiplemer-beings in our stacks, we knew we had to share them with our Tumblr followers.  

These mer-men (and mer-creatures and mer-clergymen) were found in our Rare Books Collection’s copy of Physica Curiosa, a 17th century text dealing with a wide range of subjects including zoology, cryptozoology, obstetrical abnormalities, and demonology.  Although Gaspar Schott includes all manner of centaurs, monster-chickens, wolf-men, and other oddities in Physica Curiosa, these mermaids are definitely our favorite cryptid of the book.