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Unicorns, and Faeries, and Mermaids! Oh my!

Fascination with the unknown and (scoff!) non-existent.

Year: 1663Discoverer: Otto von GuerickeScientist: Gottfried Wilhelm LeibnizArtist: Nicolaus SeelanderOriginally published in: ProtogaeaNow appears in: Fossils: Evidence of Vanished Worlds by Yvette Gayrard-Valy,American Monster by Paul Semonin and Protogaea by LeibnizThe savants working with these fossils were apparently so convinced unicorns must be real, they made one where it didn’t previously exist. This “unicorn” was pieced together from mammoth and possibly rhinoceros remains found in a gypsum quarry near Quedlinburg. Von Guericke didn’t publish a picture in his own book in 1672. Leibniz probably directed Seelander to style his rendering after images appearing in contemporary periodicals. The dotted lines indicate the animal’s “missing parts.” Misguided as it was, this was likely the first attempt to reconstruct a vertebrate fossil, but the poor thing wasn’t even given hind legs.

Year: 1658Scientist/artist: Ulisse AldrovandiOriginally published in: Monstrorum HistoriaeNow appears in: Monsters: A Bestiary of the Bizarre by Christopher DellThis 17th-century unicorn featured a flat face, a lion’s mane, cloven hooves in the front and chicken feet in the back, and an accusatory pout.

Year: 1663Scientist/artist: Samuel BochartOriginally published in: HierozoiconNow appears in: The Natural History of Unicorns by Chris LaversBorn in 1599, Bochart undertook an enormous task: to analyze the nature and history of every animal mentioned in the Bible. The holy book mentioned the unicorn, and although there are good reasons to think the unicorn was symbolic, Bochart took the references to it literally. He considered but decided against the rhino and wild ox, and settled on the “reem” or “rim.” Readings of Near Eastern literature convinced him that there existed a kind of one-horned goat, and he figured that must be the animal he sought. Centuries later, Odell Shepard commented on the unintended consequences of studying zoology in the library.

Year: 1486Artist: Erhard ReuwichOriginally published in: Perigrinationes ad Terram SanctamNow appears in: The Unicorn by Nancy HathawayUnicorn “sightings” occurred throughout the world, but the mythical creature wasn’t the same in each description. Not all unicorns resembled white horses with ivory horns. The Chinese unicorn was cow-shaped and scaly, or horse-shaped but with a dragon’s head. The Arabian version looked like a rhinoceros but with a more elaborate horn. Some unicorns looked like lions, some were as big as mountains, some were as small as dogs. Some sported turtle shells. Some had a combination of hooves and chicken feet. Gifted with good taste, some ate only sugarcane. This picture shows just three variations — fairly pedestrian versions compared to their exotic cousins.

Year: 1616Author: Thomas Coryate (or Coriate)Originally published in: Thomas Coriate Traveller for the English Wits: Greeting: From the Court of the Grand Mogul, Resident at the Towne of Asmere, in Easterne IndiaNow appears in: The Book Nobody Read by Owen GingerichCoryate claimed to see two unicorns in his travels to India. As astronomer and science historian Owen Gingerich has observed, this woodcut is trimmed, which suggests that the picture was actually copied from an earlier work (perhaps Conrad Gesner’s). One reason unicorns held such fascination for medieval and Renaissance Europeans was that their horns, called alicorns, were thought to protect their owners from poison. Europe’s royal families often acquired political power by poisoning their enemies, and some of the upper crust may not have been above testing their concoctions on their own family members.

I think I want this for a pet.

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