AVERTING DEMONS: The Protective Power of Medieval Visual Motifs and Themes

Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page in the first volume. Quarto, two volumes: 196 pp. + 328 pp. with many black-and-white and color figures. Original glossy paper wrappers. A fine set. "Ever since Bernard of Clairvaux’s famous denunciation of 'that marvelous deformed beauty, that beautiful deformity’ in monastic cloisters - a diatribe that betrays Bernard’s appreciative inspection of the very images he deplores, as Meyer Schapiro long ago observed - the presence of monstrous beasts, hybrids, obscenely gesturing figures, and other seemingly profane subjects in medieval art has remained controversial. Often grouped under the blanket heading of the grotesque or the fantastic (though both terms embody questionable assumptions regarding the meaning of this imagery for its makers and viewers), such subjects can be found throughout Europe. Ruth Mellinkoff’s new book is an ambitious attempt to offer a single comprehensive reading of this genre of material, over a chronological range that extends from the seventh to the sixteenth centuries" (The Journal of the Medieval Academy of America).…