Wyvern, Legendary Creature
by Folger Shakespeare Library
Title
Wyvern, Legendary Creature
Artist
Folger Shakespeare Library
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Entitled "Green dragon (wyvern) with severed hand in mouth" from Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608. A wyvern is a legendary winged creature with a dragon's head (which may be said to breathe fire or possess a venomous bite) and wings; a reptilian body; two legs (sometimes none); and a barbed tail. A sea-dwelling variant, dubbed the sea-wyvern, has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail. The wyvern in its various forms is important to heraldry, frequently appears as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States and United Kingdom), and occasionally appears in medieval and modern European and British literature. Thomas Trevilian, or Trevelyon, a London craftsman of whom little is known, created his miscellany in 1608 when he was about the age of 60. The bulky manuscript of 290 double-sided folios contains texts and images appropriated from books, woodcuts, and engravings of his day.
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February 7th, 2017
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