The Book of Imaginary Beings

The Book of Imaginary Beings is Borges’s whimsical compendium of more than one hundred of the "strange creatures conceived down through history by the human imagination." This unique contribution to fantasy literature ranges widely across the world’s mythologies and literatures to bring together the fantastical inventions drawn from the Kabbalah, Homer, Confucius, Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, and Kafka, among others. Here readers will find the familiar and expected dragons, centaurs, and unicorns, as well as the less familiar and altogether unexpected Animals That Live in the Mirror, the Humbaba, the Simurgh, and other undeniably curious beasts. Throughout, Borges’s cunning and humorous commentary is sheer delight.

Andrew Hurley’s brilliant new translation is perfectly paired with original drawings from award-winning illustrator Peter Sís. The result is a wonderful gift book—an Alice Through the Looking Glass menagerie, which should appeal not only to Borges aficionados but also to fantasy fans of all stripes and ages.