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 | | The Lore Of The Unicorn
Odell Shepard
Now almost seventy years old, Shepard's book is widely regarded as the authority on the human history of the Unicorn. It makes for dry reading in places, but is ultimately worth the journey: the wealth of detail is amazing. This is the book that introduces the word alicorn to mean a Unicorn's horn. Did you know that, gram for gram, this is the most valuable substance ever known to Humankind?
1983 Running Press, Philadelphia ISBN: 0-517-371561
| | | | |  | | De Historia et Veritate Unicornis
Michael Green
1983 Running Press, Philadelphia ISBN: 0-89471-206-3
It is up to the reader to decide how to accept this beautiful book. It is either a skilfully constructed fictional account of a fifteenth century monk's study of the Unicorn, based on his personal experience, or a genuine translation of an amazing manuscript. It all depends on whether you believe in Unicorns or not.
The illustrations are beautiful, and the script tantalising. This book covers the Unicorn's history from the Unicorn's own point of view, from the Creation onwards.
The illustrations in this book were also compiled to make the Unicorn Postcard Book.
| | | | |  | | Unicorns I Have Known
Robert Vavra
Robert Vavra's Unicorn books are unique in being the only photographic journals on Unicorn lore. Like all Vavra's books, the photography is second to none, and two thirds of the book consists of full page colour plates showing unicorns in a variety of habitats and situations, accompanied by quotes from all the classic sources of Unicorn literature. The final third of the book is a detailed text on Unicorn lore, their habits and habitats, and an invaluable guide on how to see a Unicorn for yourself.
The equally stunning sequel to this book is The Unicorn of Kilimanjaro which documents an expedition to Africa to photograph the elusive Kenyan Unicorn, the Nentikobe.
1983 William Morrow & Co NY ISBN: 0-688-02203-0
| | | | |  | | Rampant Diana Peterfreund Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns…
The sparkly, innocent creatures of lore are a myth. Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. And they can only be killed by virgin descendants of Alexander the Great. Fortunately, unicorns have been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.
Or not.
Astrid Llewelyn has always scoffed rather eccentric mother’s stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods – thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom – Astrid learns that unicorns are real and dangerous, and she has a family legacy to uphold. Her mother packs her off to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.
However, at the cloisters, all is not what is seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to – perhaps most dangerously of all – her growing attraction to a handsome art student… and a relationship that could jeopardize everything.
RAMPANT, a tale of killer unicorns, will be released in August of 2009 by Harper Collins. | | | | |  | | The Unicorn Was There
Elizabeth Pool
This tiny paperback, less than sixty pages long, might easily be overlooked, which would be a severe injustice. This is a gem, charmingly and concisely written in a lyrical style, focusing on those occasions when our history and the Unicorns' have briefly crossed. Did you know Julius Caesar saw a unicorn? Ghengis Khan avoided invading India after seeing one. The mother of Confucius saw one, heralding the great philosopher's birth. They're all in here, plus many others. The simple line drawings by James Houston complement the text perfectly. 1961 William L Bauhan, New Hampshire ISBN: 0-87233-061-3 | | | | |  | | The Last Unicorn
Peter Beagle
The simple story of the last Unicorn in the world, who sets out on a quest to find what became of the rest of her race.
That completely fails to do justice to this incredible book. If you feel anything for Unicorns at all, this book is essential. It's the book all followers of the Unicorn have read, and loved. It haunts its author, long after most books would have settled into comfortable obscurity. It was animated into an equally beautiful children's cartoon, and loved by all the adults who saw it.
Of the book, I can truthfully say it altered my life, and I'm far from being the only person with that opinion. READ IT!
1968 Ballantine ISBN: Various
| | | | |  | | Unicorn Races
Stephen J Brooks
A beautiful children's book in which a little girl named Abigail takes on her secret role as a princess of the faerie realm each night and presides over a wonderful race of unicorns. The story is elegantly simple and well told, and lavishly illustrated throughout by Linda Crockett.
2007 Purple Sky Publishing
Illustrated by Linda Crocket
ISBN: 0-9769017-3-0 | | | | |  | | The Lion, The Unicorn and Me
Jeanette Winterson
In this beautifully evocative retelling of the story of the very first Christmas, the humble donkey is chosen amongst all the other animals, including the kingly lion and the proud unicorn. As his journey unfolds, he is touched by the magic and mystery of the Nativity.
Scholastic
ISBN: 9781407109060 | | | | |  | | The Unicorn Sonata
Peter Beagle
Beter Beagle's long awaited return to the land of Unicorns. In a very different setting from The Last Unicorn, the Unicorns dwell in a land named Shei'rah, where a mysterious disease is robbing them of their sight. On Earth, a young girl named Joey Rivera meets a strange boy who plays a haunting tune on a long, spiral horn. The music calls to her, and eventually leads her across the border to Shei'rah.
This is a different tale to his first Unicorn story, but woven with the same magic. As an added bonus, the book is beautifully illustrated with full-page colour paintings from the brush of Robert Rodriguez.
1996 Headline, London UK
ISBN: 0-7472-1943-5
| | | | |  | | The Unicorn Creed
Elizabeth Scarborough
Part two of a trilogy, beginning with Song of Sorcery. Moonshine is a young adult Unicorn, and he's smitten over his first young maiden. However, she's not a fair princess like he had imagined himself meeting: she's Maggie Brown, an unkempt, unruly hearth-witch. And now she and her minstrel friend Colin are getting rather close and there seems to be some imminent danger of Moonshine's maiden suddenly not being a maiden any more..!
A lively and humourous book which continues the hilarious adventures of Maggie Brown, hearth-witch.
1987 Bantam Books
ISBN: 0-553-17283-2 | | | | |  | | unicorns
nigel suckling
Even after other fanciful beasts-- like dragons and griffins-- were relegated to the world of the imagination, people kept on believing in unicorns. Prolific fantasy writer Nigel Suckling takes a lively and wide-ranging look at the enduring fascination of this beautiful creature. He delves into the early confusion between the unicorn and the rhinoceros; Alexander the Great's quest for the unicorn; Biblical references to the unicorn and their adoption as a Christian symbol; their use in heraldry; and the medicinal value of their horns. In addition, he compares the legends and beliefs in China, Japan, and Tibet with those in Europe.
ISBN13: 9781904332688
ISBN10: 1904332684
| | | | |  | | Unicorn Variations
Roger Zelazny
Unicorn Variations is an anthology, and only the title story features a Unicorn. According to the author, he was asked by one publisher if he'd ever done a story featuring a Unicorn, for an anthology they were doing. Then he was asked by another publisher if he'd done any featuring a game of Chess? And again, by a third, asking for fantasy set in a bar. So he cannily wrote an excellent short story, about a Unicorn playing Chess in a bar, then sold it to all three parties! Read it: it's light-hearted and optimistic, and one of my favourite unicorn stories!
1983 Sphere Books, London UK
ISBN: 0-7221-9415-3
| | | | |  | | The Last Battle
C. S. Lewis
The final book in the famous Narnian Chronicles. It is Narnia's darkest hour, with enemies both without and within seeking to destroy her. King Tirian and his closest friend, a Unicorn named Jewel, are forced to summon help from Earth in a bid to save the country.
The conclusion of the story that began with The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
1956, various
ISBN: various
| | | | |  | | The Black Unicorn
Terry Brooks Sequel to Magic Kingdom For Sale/SOLD! this books tells of the goings on in the magic kingdom of Landover, a year after its purchase by Ben Holiday. The kingdom is entering a time of peril once more, with omens and strange dreams abounding, and sightings of a strange black Unicorn. And when Questor locates the two lost books of Magic, one is a burnt out shell, while the other contains nothing but pictures of Unicorns... 1987 Futura, London UK
ISBN: 0-7088-3587-2 | | | | |  | | The Particolored Unicorn
Jon DeCles
Piswyck, the son of a wizard wants three things: his inheritance, the beautiful Miranda, and the multi-coloured Unicorn he's seen at the market. The final wish is relatively simple to achieve, and with his new companion (soon named Lifesaver) he sets out to secure the second.
This is a light-hearted tale, but manages to plausibly convey several implausible things. Fun to read.
If anyone knows if a sequel was ever produced to this story, I'd like to hear from you.
1987 Ace Fantasy, NY
ISBN: 0-441-65192-5 | | | | |  | | Black Unicorn
Tanith Lee
Tanaquil, powerless daughter of the sorceress Jaive, comes across a cache of pearl-coloured bones, and being of an inquiring mind, assembles them into a complete skeleton, discovering that she has here the remains of a Unicorn. To her great astonishment, the creature returns to life: a glossy black Unicorn. She doesn't understand what it needs or seeks, but she feels compelled to follow it, and in that journey, her own unique magical ability finally manifests.
1994 Orbit, UK (original 1991 Tor, US)
ISBN: 1-85723-211-9 | | | | |  | | The Unlikely Ones
Mary Brown
An epic tale of seven very unlikely comrades on a quest to release each from a witch's curse: Thing, the deformed woman; Corby, the flightless crow; Puddy, the toad; Pisky, the carp with a pebble set in his mouth; Moglet, the lame kitten; Conn, the knight in rusty armour; and Snowy, the strange white horse with cloven hooves and a horrible wound upon his brow...
A strange, touching quest of seven friends whose salvation depends on each of their comrades.
1986 Arrow, London UK
ISBN: 0-09-950400-6 | | | | |  | | Elidor
Alan Garner
Elidor is a doomed land. The only salvation lies in four Treasures, four Manchester children, and the song of a Unicorn named Findhorn. But when the children take the treasures to their own world to guard them, a dark and ancient power begins to stalk them. Findhorn must be found before it's too late, but even if they succeed in finding him, how do they make him sing?
1965 Fontana, London UK
ISBN: 0-00-671674-1 | | | | |  | | The Black Horn
Clare Cooper
Simon is easy prey for bullies: short, wears glasses, and is new to country life. But friendship with a young girl named Fred (who intends to become a witch) changes that. There are the strange, coloured islands on the horizon that only he can see, and Fred's family treasure - a long, spiraled black horn, and the knowledge that somewhere, something is calling for his help.
A children's book, fast-paced and very enjoyable.
1981 Hodder and Stoughton, London UK
ISBN: 0-340-34851-8 | | | | |  | | The Unicorn Quest
John Lee
On a far world, the Humans fight along the Kingdoms of Strand against the alien Outlanders who dwell in their own poisonous atmosphere and fight in jointed suits. A devastating new offensive by the Outlanders seems to mean certain doom for the Humans until a princess falls into a trance and utters a prophecy that begins When Unicorns are by a young man led. And so young Jarrod is sent off on a quest to find the creature no one believes exists.
This is the first of a series, continuing with The Unicorn Dilemma, The Unicorn Solution, and The Unicorn Peace.
1986 Orbit, London UK
ISBN: 0-7088-8216-1 | | | | |  | | The Day of the Dissonance
Alan Dean Foster
Book three of the Spellsinger series, where law student and aspiring rock guitarist, Jon-Tom, has been sucked into a world where animals are people and his music works magic - if slightly erratically. His mentor, the turtle Clothahump, is dying (so he says), and despatches the hapless spellsinger on a long voyage to obtain the only medicine that can cure him. Well, it's an uncilivilised world, and Jon-Tom and his otter companion Mudge soon run into more trouble than they can handle. Good job there's a Unicorn on hand to help them out.
N.B: Despite the cover art, no one bridles the Unicorn!
1984 Warner, NY
ISBN: 0-446-32133-8 | | | | |  | | Grimbold's Other World
Nicholas Stuart Gray
Muffler is a village goatherd and a dreamer, regarded as simple by those around him. The black cat Grimbold sees his potential however, and introduces him to the Night-world; the other side of the daylight world, where magic still rules strong.
This book is a really a series of short stories with common characters. A Unicorn only features in one. The book is worth it just for the short verse that follows the story though.
1986 Ace Fantasy NY (original book Faber 1963)
ISBN: 0-441-30380-3 | | | | |  | | The Magic and the Healing
Nick O'Donohoe
Virginia veterinary student BJ Vaughan is offered a chance to join an extraordinary team of vets travelling to the halfway world of Crossroads, where her first case is a Unicorn with a broken horn.
This is a fascinating story mixing mythology with modern verterinary practice. The Unicorns do not, alas, form a major theme, but it's a well-crafted story - the first book in the Crossroads trilogy. And it has great cover art too!
1994 Ace Fantasy NY
ISBN: 0-441-00053-3 | | | | |  | | The Myth series
Robert Asprin
The Unicorn is not a major feature of the series, but it's worth a mention anyhow! This tongue-in-cheek series about the apprentice magician Skeeve and his Demon associate Aahz makes hilarious reading. The Unicorn, who has the unfortunate luck to be named Buttercup, really appears only in the first two books, but oddly stars prominently in the cover art for volumes three and four.
The series begins with Another Fine Myth and continues with Myth Conceptions. There are several further volumes.
1983 onwards, Ace Fantasy NY
ISBN: various | | | | |  | | Guinevere
Sharan Newman
The fascinating tale of Guinevere's childhood, caught between the Old Magic, embodied in the tragic, patient Unicorn who guards her from harm, and the new ways of the young King Arthur. Ultimately she must choose between them.
A well-woven tale that mixes myth, history, and fantasy into a cohesive whole. The story continues in the Chessboard Queen and concludes in Guinevere Forever but the Unicorn features prominently only in this first volume.
1981 Futura, London UK
ISBN: 0-7088-2619-9 | | | | |  | | The Split Infinity series
Piers Anthony
This series has to be mentioned: comprised of six books (Split Infinity, Blue Adept, Juxtaposition, Out of Phase, Robot Adept, and Unicorn Point) the story relates the strange duality between two very different worlds: hi-tech Proton, and the magical domain of Phaze. Piers Anthony may not be to everyone's taste: I can never decide whether I like him or not. The Unicorn characters in this book, especially Neysa and her daughter Fleta, are very likeable, but certain aspects like the fact that the coloured socks on their legs can be removed (and constitute a magical disguise for other people), having horns like musical instruments that imitate a range of earthly instruments - including pianos - and in one featuring a Unicorn whose coat is orange and green check can be off-putting. On one side the stories would seem aimed at children, and yet there are some very adult situations in parts.
1983 onwards
ISBN: various | | | | |  | | The Little White Horse
Elizabeth Goudge
A lovingly detailed children's tale of the orphan child Maria Merryweather who is sent to stay at the distant manor of Moonacre, set in a valley haunted with old legends and the mysteriously elusive white pony she she keeps glimpsing. Gradually Maria finds ways to return the valley to its former splendour and make peace between the people who live there.
The Unicorn, though a constant background theme does not play a major part in the book, but the story is both compelling and charming, and I willingly give space to it on my bookshelves!
1946 Lion Publishing, Tring UK
ISBN: 0-7459-1458-6 | | | | |  | | The Unicorn
Nancy Hathaway
In short, this is Shephard's "Lore of the Unicorn" with a lot more nifty pictures. It distills the copious theory in that book into secondary information, and instead focuses on the legends of the unicorn itself, from all cultures. It also includes a lot on the recent transformation of the unicorn into what it is today. A great read, with a lot of artwork. | | | | |  | | The Truth about Unicorns
James Cross Giblin
Well, if you can't find either of the above two books, this one will probably suit you. It's a smaller book than Hathaway's and shares many of the stories, but also contains more of the academic content of Shephard's book. However, if there's one thing that makes this book worth getting, it's the very enjoyable analysis of the famed "Hunt of the Unicorn" tapestries, included as a color section. This is an intermediate-level book for younger readers, but enjoyable nonetheless.
I found this paperback edition by chance in a bookstore in Edmonton, Alberta. I've not seen it since then outside of libraries, where its hardcover version is quite common. | | | | |  | | Into the Land of the Unicorns
Bruce Coville
As each bell chime sounds, Cara pushes herself faster up the steep bell tower steps that lead to the roof. Eleven! She must be on the roof when the next bell tolls. As she races up the stairs. Cara can’t believe everything that has happened. Wasn’t it just a few minutes ago that she and Grandmother Morris were peacefully walking home form the library?
When did that mysterious man start to follow them? What does he want? Where did he come from? Who is he? Twelve! The ringing bell brings Cara back to the moment. Gramma told her what she must do! With a deep breath, and only half believing she will be safe, Cara jumps off the church roof and into the adventure of her lifetime—into the Land of Luster, the world of the unicorns. | | | | |  | | Song of the Wanderer
Bruce Coville
This second book of the "Unicorn Chronicles" series is basically more of the same. Again, it doesn't go too deeply into anything, aside from the "We gotta get from point A to point B" plot prevalent in the first book. Easy reading, but it's meant for younger audiences after all.
| | | | |  | | A Glory of Unicorns
Bruce Coville, Editor
It is a game among people who love words to come up with appropriate terms of groups of animals, such as a gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, and a knot of toads. To this list I propose a new addition: A Glory of Unicorns. Of course, one unicorn is glorious in and of itself. But when you have several of them together, that is something else indeed. It is a thought to lift the heart and make it sing. A glory. | | | | |  | | Peter S. Beagle's Immortal Unicorn
Peter S. Beagle and Janet Berliner, Editors
Another anthology, and a really different one at that. These aren't your fairy-tale unicorns, and it shows. Heck, some of these stories barely feature the unicorn at all; I think that's the point, though. They're very good, very maturely-oriented stories. Beagle's own "Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros", about a man meeting a rhinoceros that believes it's a unicorn, is priceless in and of itself. | | | | |  | | Treasures of the Unicorn: The Return to the Sacred Quest
Ted Andrews
In this book, Ted Andrews, an internationally recognized author, storyteller, teacher, and mystic, explores the unicorn theme in cultures throughout the world. The sacred quest of the unicorn is the seeking of our lost wonder, and the secret to all sacred quests is that those who search will find what they seek.
As one reviewer notes, "Beautifully designed and illustrated...it's an enchanting work that will light up your bookshelf." | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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