Monday 25 February 2013

Another Viking image

I am uploading this image because... Well, because. Amazon sent me an email recently, an automatic one, offering me to trade this book, Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology, for something else. I was borderline offended. I bought this book, a rare gem, because I wanted to read it in original English and because I wanted to own a copy. Why would I want to trade it back for something else? If I wanted to just read books I buy, then I wouldn't buy them but borrow them from libraries. And this one, as I said, is a rarity, a forgotten treasure. I wouldn't give it back for an empire. And to top it up, it has gorgeous illustrations by Giovanni Caselli, which I want to show here, because I don't want them completely forgotten either, so I upload them here, to immortalise them so to speak. In this image, which I struggled to photograph, you can see the god Loki, disguised as a hawk (he ''borrowed'' goddess Freya's coat), flying over a giants' feast in Jotunheim. It is the hall of Gerröd and I let you find more about the story. Until then, enjoy the minutiously detailed depiction of Viking life Caselli draw. Luscious, beautiful, and a good enough reason for this post.

No comments: