The Book of the Toad: A Natural and Magical History of Toad-Human Relations - Softcover

DeGraaff, Robert M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0892812613 ISBN 13: 9780892812615

Publisher: Park Street Press, 1991

Synopsis

This comprehensive and entertaining compendium of toad lore surveys the history of toads as biological entity, literary and artistic subject, mythological subject, and threatened species. Here is a uniquely insightful and engaging look at how humans through the ages have responded to and been influenced by their amphibian neighbors.

About this title

About the Author

Robert DeGraaff has been a professor of Victorian literature at St. Lawrence University for more than twenty years. He is also an accomplished limericist and the tiller of a 5,000-square-foot vegetable garden, in which he communes whenever possible with Bufo americanus, the American toad.

Reviews

By integrating his commentary with the world of poetry, literature, art, and science, the author presents examples of the impact the toad has had upon the thoughts and actions of humankind. Degraaff considers this amphibian from every angle--from its biological aspects, which include its heritage as the evolutionary progenitor of land animals, to its role in mysticism and its value as an ingredient in witch's brew. He also incorporates the writings of Lewis Carroll, Beatrice Potter, William Shakespeare, and many others. Degraaff's whimsical approach to this offbeat subject and the many high-quality art reproductions combine to produce an attractive, entertaining package for general readers.
- Frank Reiser, Nassau Community Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Park Street Press
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0892812613
• ISBN 13: 9780892812615
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192