#rare books collection

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.