Birds With Human Souls: A Guide To Bird Symbolism
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Previous owner
Across centuries and civilisations, birds have served as powerful messengers between the earthly and the divine — and Birds with Human Souls: A Guide to Bird Symbolism by Beryl Rowland is the definitive compendium that uncovers these rich, layered meanings. Drawing on sources ranging from classical mythology and medieval bestiaries to religious iconography and literary tradition, Rowland presents an encyclopaedic survey of avian symbolism, tracing how individual species — from the wise owl to the treacherous cuckoo — came to embody the full spectrum of human virtues, vices, and spiritual aspirations. Rowland's scholarship is meticulous yet richly readable, weaving together threads from ancient Egypt, Greco-Roman antiquity, Christian allegory, and vernacular poetry to construct a sweeping cultural history of our relationship with birds. Each entry illuminates not just a creature, but a mirror of human consciousness — and one is left to wonder just how much of ourselves we have always seen in the birds above us.
Author: Beryl Rowland
Format: Hardback
Published: 1978, The University of Tennessee Press
Genre: Natural history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Previous owner
Across centuries and civilisations, birds have served as powerful messengers between the earthly and the divine — and Birds with Human Souls: A Guide to Bird Symbolism by Beryl Rowland is the definitive compendium that uncovers these rich, layered meanings. Drawing on sources ranging from classical mythology and medieval bestiaries to religious iconography and literary tradition, Rowland presents an encyclopaedic survey of avian symbolism, tracing how individual species — from the wise owl to the treacherous cuckoo — came to embody the full spectrum of human virtues, vices, and spiritual aspirations. Rowland's scholarship is meticulous yet richly readable, weaving together threads from ancient Egypt, Greco-Roman antiquity, Christian allegory, and vernacular poetry to construct a sweeping cultural history of our relationship with birds. Each entry illuminates not just a creature, but a mirror of human consciousness — and one is left to wonder just how much of ourselves we have always seen in the birds above us.