Magical Beasts, at least according to the Vincent Price TV spot, was the third volume in the Enchanted World series from Time-Life Book. This is another natural book for RPG enthusiasts to have on their shelves – it is pretty much a full-on Monster Manual.

The book opens with a fantastic two-page spread featuring the Minotaur, by John Jude Palencar. I love his stuff, and have a hard time trying to explain exactly what the quality of his style is that I respond to so strongly. From there, we cover most of the marquee creatures from Greek mythology and the medieval bestiaries, as well as some critters from further afield. Big fan of the peryton, which is a bit of a deep cut, I think.

Some artist highlights. You might be familiar with John Howe (responsible for the centaur Chiron and the battle between Lugh and the Fomorians) from his Middle Earth illustrations. The cockatrice and peryton are part of a larger series of odd critters by Gervasio Gallardo, who did the covers of many Ballantine Adult Fantasy paperbacks, including The Last Unicorn and several Lovecraft collections. Alicia Austin, mainstay of the covers of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine is responsible for that lady who looks suspiciously like a priest of Orcus. Lastly, that chimera, which may be the best illustration of a chimera I have ever seen, is by Arthur Rackham, from way back in 1922. That gives you a pretty good idea of the firepower throughout the series, and I didn’t even bother reproducing the selections of older engravings, tapestries, etc.