Hare.

London: Reaktion Books, 2010.
Octavo, paperback, 224 pp. illustrations.

Reaktion Animal Series. Finds its subject in many surprising places and forms, in positions of both unusual prominence and arcane marginality: from Crucifixion scenes, Buddhist lore and Algonquin creation myths, to witch trials, treatises on logic, contemporary poetry and an art installation in a Dutch brothel. It is the principal subject of the first ever hunting treatise, 'king of all venery' for Renaissance theorists of the hunt; and it appears in the first known description of a still life painting, in the first signed and dated picture of a single animal, and in early medicine where it was credited with having the most curative properties of any 'beaste'. The first monograph on the subject for thirty-five years, and richly illustrated, this book combines the most recent natural history with an eclectic account of the animal's symbolic values. Packed with detail but accessibly written, the book will be of interest to art historians and literary critics; to those for and opposed to hunting; to anyone intrigued by the history of human/animal relationships; and, to both the general and the lagophile reader alike. Other titles in this animal series are available.