African ogres with eyes in their feet, one-eyed giant dogs, a man trapped in the body of a werewolf, human monsters made out of scorching magma – the world’s mythologies and folklores have created the most wonderfully ghoulish beasts to give us a thrill and a chill.

Fantastic Fearsome Beasts collects 44 beasts from mythology and folklore drawn from cultures all around the world, from biblical monsters that were mistaken for islands to dogs that are the portent of death, from giant bulls to evil dwarves to spirits, serpents and dog-faced men.

Including a wide-ranging selection of monsters from European, North American, South American, Hindu, Mesopotamian, ancient Greek, Norse, African, Chinese and many other mythologies, the book features vampires, sea-monsters and lizard- monsters, giants, giant walruses and half-dragons. Together these characters and their stories offer an insight into how different cultures represent their fears.

Fantastic Fearsome Beasts is illustrated throughout with outstanding new full-colour annotated artworks for each character. Alongside easy-to-follow accounts of each character’s story, there are factfile boxes, locator maps and size comparison guides.