The Digital Text Library is a collection of mostly out of print and difficult to find books and articles relating to animals in the Middle Ages. The originals of the texts listed here are believed to be in the public domain. They have been scanned from the original sources and converted to digital text (not page images), then carefully proofread and corrected. Any images have been digitally enhanced and are shown at high resolution. All of the texts are fully searchable, and since they are real text, not page images, portions can be copied and pasted into other documents.
The digital text catalog below is listed in alphabetical order by title, but you can sort it by any column by clicking the column heading. Clicking on the title will take you to the introduction page of the text, from where you can view or download the text. You can also search this entire site, using the Google search engine, to find texts of interest by keyword.
| An Account of the Μυρμηκολέων or Ant-lion |
Druce |
1923 |
PDF |
| Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture |
Evans |
1896 |
PDF |
| Animals in English Wood Carving |
Druce |
1914 |
PDF |
| Le Bestiaire de Gervaise |
Meyer |
1872 |
PDF |
| Bestiaries and Lapidaries |
Kuhns |
1896 |
PDF |
| The Bestiary (Eton College Natural History Society) |
James |
1931 |
PDF, Text |
| The Bestiary (History) |
James |
1932 |
PDF, Text |
| The Bestiary of Philippe de Thaon |
Wright |
1841 |
PDF, Text |
| Birds and Beasts of the Greek Anthology |
Douglas |
1928 |
PDF |
| The Caladrius and its Legend, Sculptured Upon the Twelfth-Century Doorway of Alne Church, Yorkshire |
Druce |
1912 |
PDF |
| The Early English Bestiary |
Morris |
1872 |
PDF |
| The Elephant in Medieval Legend and Art |
Druce |
1919 |
PDF |
| An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages: Isidore of Seville |
Brehaut |
1912 |
PDF |
| The History of Reynard the Fox |
Caxton / Morley |
1889 |
PDF, Text |
| Introduction to Queen Mary’s Psalter: Miniatures and Drawings by an English Artist of the 14th Century Reproduced from Royal MS. 2 B. VII in the British Museum |
Warner |
1912 |
PDF, Text |
| The Medieval Bestiaries |
Allen |
1887 |
PDF |
| On the Legend of the Serra or Saw-Fish |
Druce |
1919 |
PDF |
| The Old English Physiologus |
Cook |
1921 |
PDF |
| Physiologus: A Metrical Bestiary of Twelve Chapters by Bishop Theobald |
Rendell |
1928 |
PDF |
| Reynard the Fox |
Guerber |
1896 |
PDF, Text |
| Some Twelfth-Century Animal Carvings and their Sources in the Bestiaries |
Collins |
1940 |
PDF |
| S. P. N. Epiphanii, Episcopi Constantiæ Cypri, ad Physiologum |
Migne |
1864 |
PDF, Text |
| Symbolism of Animals and Birds Represented in English Church Architecture |
Collins |
1913 |
PDF |
| The Symbolism of the Goat on The Norman Font at Thames Ditton |
Druce |
1908 |
PDF |