Publisher's Synopsis
Mike Harding’s first four Little Books for Aurum, published nine years ago – Gargoyles (9781854105615), Green Men (9781854105639), Misericords (9781854105622) and Stained Glass (9781854105646) – have each sold between 20,000 and 30,000 copies and reprinted numerous times. Miracles & Marvels collects together from our churches and chapels the extraordinary array of mythical creatures, magical characters and legendary events. Here are mermaids, dragons, wyverns, unicorns, the little woodland creatures called wodwos, as well as miraculous events like The Legend of the True Cross, Jonah and the Whale and The Three Hares. There are battling dragons (from Durham Cathedral) and a cheerful little dragon (in Wirksworth, Derbyshire); the wyverns – photographed in Ripon and Canterbury Cathedrals – were fire-breathing creatures with he head of a dragon, the body of a snake, and both legs and wings. Such a magnificent gallery of mythical creatures have all been found by Mike Harding – and superbly photographed – within our own ancient Christian churches, a remarkable insight into the richness and strangeness of our cultural heritage. As with all Mike Harding’s little books, this is a beautiful little gift book as well as an erudite like monograph, at a superbly competitive impulse-buy price. Mike Harding is a comedian and radio broadcaster who has a weekly show on Radio 2 on folk music and presents the annual British Folk Awards. He lives in West Yorkshire.
