Yeah, dictionaries are all about words and meanings and etymologies and synonyms, but believe me when I say that some of the books in the Butter Lamb Reference Library contain some wonderful art. This section of Live & Learn aims to highlight some of it, and spread the idea that dictionaries and references can be treasure-troves of wonderful graphics and images too.
As a case in point, I submit to you the following artistic rendering of The Devil from the Larousse Dictionary of World Folklore, published in 1995.
From the text: Devil, the personification of evil, the opponent of God and good. Satan, from an Arabic word meaning adversary, is in Semitic and Christian belief the archfiend who was created an angel but whose pride and rebellion brought about his fall. He is now the source of all evil, constantly attempting to thwart the good purposes of God by winning the souls of humans for himself. In some monotheisms, and heresies such as Manicheism, the Devil is one aspect of the single god, good and evil in one person.
As another case in point, I submit to you the following artistic rendering of a whale from A Dictionary of Symbols by J.E. Cirlot (1958).
According to this text, the whale is symbolic of the world, the body and the grave and [is] regarded as an essential symbol of containing (and concealing). [In more recent times,] however, the whale seems to have acquired more independence as a symbolic equivalent of … the area of intersection of the circles of heaven and earth, comprising and embracing the opposites of existence.
Finally, as yet another case in point, I submit to you the following drawing of a Phouka from A Dictionary of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures by Katherine Briggs (1976).
According to this captivating text, the Irish word Phouka (sometimes Pouk, or Puck) is a kind of bogy or bogey-beast, something like the Picktree brag of the North of England, who takes various forms, most usually a horse, but also an eagle or a bat, and is responsible for people falling as well. Many a wild ride has been suffered on the Phouka's back.
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