I was intrigued to get an email from Taschen a few months ago with the header: Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities. For those unfamiliar with Taschen, they're a publishing company, and they specialise in beautiful niche books, often very large and very expensive, often highlighting the work of artists or movie makers. (I recently picked up huge tomes about Charlie Chaplin and the first three Star Wars films, in a cut-price sale -- sweet!) I've bought from them before, which is why I'm on their mailing list, but this header threw me. Had the quartermaster of Vampire Mountain, Seba Nile penned a publishing deal with them without my knowledge?!? Was this to be an expose of the world of the creatures of the night?!? And if so, how would Vancha March take to being called a natural curiosity?!?

As it turned out, the book was penned by a different Seba -- 18th century naturalist Albertus Seba, and the book was described thusly: "Albertus Seba’s catalog of natural specimens is not only one of the 18th century’s greatest natural history achievements but also one of the most prized natural history books of all time. Inspired from a rare hand-colored original, this collection gathers all his extraordinary illustrations of strange and exotic plants, snakes, corals, as well as “double-headed monsters”, dragons, and many more."

So, nothing to do with Larten Crepsley's old mentor, but still I thought it might be of interest to Cirque Du Freak fans -- I suspect Mr Tall bought a copy of the original long ago, and who know, maybe he even helped Albertus out with a few of the entries -- so I'm including a few photos, and if you'd like to visit the Taschen site to find out more (and maybe even pick up a copy) click here: https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/classics/all/44835/facts.seba_cabinet_of_natural_curiosities.htm

The Shanville Monthly is always full to bursting with "natural curiosities" -- you can check out the August issue here: https://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly