Medieval Monster Hunter by Damien Kempf

A collection of works by Damien Kempf, a researcher who teaches as a senior lecturer in medieval history at the University of Liverpool.

Kemp is researching monsters that appear in European medieval art and finding their manuscripts. Most of these drawings on parchment were collected from religious sources such as the Bible, prayer books, and theological books. For artists at the time, monsters were one of the few motifs that they could freely depict while letting their imaginations run wild, and people also enjoyed looking at the illustrations of grotesque monsters, even if they were sometimes frightened. Foreign peoples and cultures that were unknown to Christian society in medieval Europe were eventually associated with the image of monsters as heresy, and came to symbolize the "dark" side of the world, a sin against virtue. The image of monsters reminds people that there has always been a world of pleasure, desire, and greed that is both seductive and deceptive.

The book is a homage to the late medieval illustrated monster books with captions that people would read while lying back and relaxing, but the text has been replaced with modern text, providing a humorous portrayal of human society through the timeless, terrifying, yet amusing monsters.

Second edition, limited to 1000 copies.

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Title: Medieval Monster Hunter
Artist: Damien Kempf
Witty Books, 2020
Softcover, 100 x 150 mm
120 pages
Second edition of 1000 copies
ISBN: 978-88-944340-7-1
¥3,500 + tax