Family life and illicit love in earlier generations

RUDIGER ROBERT BEER, Unicorn. Myth and reality, translated by Charles M. Stem, New York and London, Ash & Grant, 1977, 8vo, pp. 215, illus., £7.95. The original versions of this book were published in German. It now appears in an elegant volume with a multitude of illustrations taken from a wide variety of sources, including tapestries, mosaics, and carvings, as well as manuscripts and printed books. In addition to the fascinating text, there is also a 'Commentary on the illustrations', a bibliography, and a meagre index. For thousands of years the mythical unicorn has been of great interest and it continues to be so. This lengthy story is traced by the author, from Ancient India to twentieth-century poetry. Its varying image, its symbolism and supposed physical form, the legends associated with it, and the therapeutic value of its horn, are all dealt with in a scholarly manner. The books in English on the unicorn are few, so that this one is a valuable addition to the literature on fabled beasts.