The Independent London Newspaper

Letters

Excellent year for dragons

Published: 3 February, 2012

• I enjoyed the feature on Chinese dragons (Here be (many) dragons, Chinese New Year special issue, January 27).

I was glad it drew on Chinese sources as, when it comes to printed western maps, “hic sunt dracones” is a myth about a myth.

There are a number of terrifying and fabulous beasts which do appear on early maps: lions, elephants and monsters derived from Pliny’s Natural History – men with faces in their chests, the heads of dogs or a single enormous foot which can be used as a sunshade – but the one thing you won’t find is a dragon.

Customers often come to my Cecil Court map shop and ask to see the maps with dragons on them and I hate to be the cause of so much disappointment.

But people should remember that if you were living in the 1600s, walruses, lions and whales would have seemed every bit as bizarre as dragons.

Tim Bryars, Cecil Court, WC2

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