The Magic of Birds

About this book

Of all the animals with which we share the planet few have captured peoples imaginations as thoroughly or enchantingly as birds. Symbols of freedom but also of captivity good fortune but also ill omen the human spirit and the unknowable animalbirds have delighted and haunted us for millennia. The Magic of Birds brings that fascination to the printed page. A marvelous mix of words and images it carries readers around the globe from the myths of ancient Egypt to the Finnish epic The Kalevala to find the tracks of birds in art and literature. We see birds peeking out of illuminated medieval manuscripts swooping across antique maps and preening in natural history paintings. Alongside Celia Fisher offers a dazzling cultural history of birds tracing their presence as animals and symbols in the literature art and religion of Europe Asia Australia and the Americas. A truly stunning volume worthy of our eternal love affair with birds The Magic of Birds is the perfect book to set beside your birdseed and binoculars.