Title The Book of the Unicorn Series --- Author Nigel Suckling Illustrator Linda & Roger Garland Publisher Paper Tiger - 1996 First Printing Paper Tiger - 1996 Category Reference Warnings None Main Characters --- Main Elements Unicorns

The Unicorn must be the most beautiful and mysterious of creatures. From the beginning of time it has fascinated people and is said to have been the first animal named by Adam in the Garden of Eden. During the Middle Ages the Unicorn rose to equal the Lion as a heraldic emblem and still remains powerfully symbolic today, even though most people no longer believe the Unicorn is real. Milk-white and sharp-horned, the Unicorn lives on in our imaginations, inspiring dreams of chivalry and high adventure. Wonder, mystery and more than a breath of the Otherworld cling to the beast but where do these ideas come from?

The Book of the Unicorn attemps to track down the mystery of the Unicorn to its origins, drawing on sources from places as far-flung as India, Africa and China, as well as Europe, in the search. This trail of fascinating lore and legend is beautifully illustrated by Linda and Roger Garland, whose talents capture the magic of the elusive Unicorn throughout this world and beyond.

The artwork, it's gorgeous, magical and colourful. The prose didn't impress me as much, but then I must have read a dozen unicorn lore books this year and it's getting harder to impress me by now. It is an interesting selection of legends from around the world, and if you're not up to slogging your way through Odell Shepard's classic, The Lore of the Unicorn, then this is probably an excellent place to start. Whether you want to read about the Biblical unicorn, the Medieval one, the Asian one, or perhaps it's earliest origins, this is a pretty good book to give you that overview, and the illustrations will impress either way. I'm glad I happen to own this one.