JPV Publishing has released Meeting with Monsters by Jón Baldur Hlídberg and Sigurdur Aegisson, a curious book on strange creatures and monsters mentioned in Icelandic folk stories. The book is available in Icelandic and English.
The awesome Icelandic nature inspired the creation of vicious beasts swimming in the streams and roaming the highlands which people were deadly frightened of. Since then the fear has subsided, but these creatures are still alive and well in folk stories.
In Meeting with Monsters, the authors compile these legends using written reports as well as tales that have traveled from generation to generation but never been written down before.
The book describes the monsters in detail; both with text and pictures. Places where they were known to appear and their “natural” habitats are shown on a map.
The pictures were made by Hlídberg, who is a visual artist known for his detailed drawings of animals in educational writings. Aegisson is an ethnologist and theologian and has written many books on theology, ethnology and natural sciences.
The book is available in Icelandic bookstores and on forlagid.is.
