Kathleen BasfordThe Green Man

One of the top books to have on the green man must have

A brilliant study of the Green Man written by an acknowledged authority. The book arrived in good time and in very good condition.

Minimal introductory text, a book of b/w photos.

The author is renowned for the quality of her research into this fascinating subject. Once you start looking for green men, they crop up regularly and in unexpected places.

It is hard to criticise this book, because it is the book that started it all. It was Basford’s who first drew to our attention the fact that the possibly pagan image of the Green Man is a recurrent feature of Catholic church art in France, Germany and England from the end of the twelfth century to the sixteenth century. Her book is very basic giving us just a thirteen page overview and over 100 black and white photographs.Basford attempts to link the Green Man to heads of Bacchus and Okeanos that appear in ancient art, but she cannot explain why he went underground for about 700 years before re-emerging in the twelfth century. Nor can she tell why he disappears again with the onset of Protestantism, which may or may not have had something to do with the disappearance.There are many other unexplained things about the Green Man. He usually only appears in the form of a disembodied head; there are only a few versions of the whole being. His appearance is limited to certain parts of church buildings - bosses, misericords, corbels and capitals, but rarely stained glass (or not in much of the stained glass that has survived). Nor does he seem to appear in many surviving non-religious buildings of the period.The problem is that these faces that have survived in stone and wood are not mentioned in any of the contemporary writings, so we have no idea of their significance or purpose. They just seem to loiter in the dark of our medieval churches and cathedrals like the ghosts of some pre-Christian past.Basford’s book has been followed up by several more recent ones. These tend to be more speculative, linking the medieval Green Man carvings to various European folk customs. The best of these is The Green Man in Britain by Fran & Geoff Doel (2001). A neat little companion volume to Basford is Mike Harding’s A Little Book of the Green Man (1998), which has a limited number of very good colour pictures. But really the books that come after Basford add little of substance, just better quality photographs and occurrences of the Green Man missed by Basford.Four stars for being first on the block and for keeping speculation under control.

So many gorgeous green man images, a must if you're a fan. I'm using to draw from and am really happy

Excellent source of information on this subject.

Interesting And well written

Basford's work is essential in researching the Green Man within the context of medieval architecture.

Le must sur le sujet. Je croyais commander l'édition originale, mais cette édition est "transferred to digital printing in 2009". C'est peut-être la raison pour laquelle toutes les photos ont une espèce de trame bizarre qui en altère la netteté. Dommage.

Adoro l’argomento, e possiedo parecchi libri in proposito. Alcuni problemi con questo- foto in bianco e nero, si perdono I particolati- la parte espositiva è davvero minima rispetto al resto del libro- molto “cosa non è “ e poco “cosa è “, anche solo in teoriaPasserei oltre se cercate l’ultima parola sull’argomento

If you’re interested in the “Green Man” tradition this book is a must have.

Great photo collection BUT ... I just wish the reproduction quality were better. Most of the photos are murky, making it difficult to see details. Would love to know if the original photos were better. This was to be a gift but the quality is so poor that I am having second thoughts. What a shame and oh what it could have been. I am keeping the book and giving 3 stars because it is touted as being the most thoroughly photographed of Green Man art.