Ian Rogers: Abecedary – Group Names of Birds and Beasts

November 28, 2012

Many months ago, my friend Ian started doing an illustration series based on collective nouns. You can see the arc of his progress, along with each individual illustration, over on his blog.

I was delighted to hear that Ian’s gathered all the illustrations together, and has put them together as a book! He’s got several versions available: hardcover, softcover, and ebook. Note that you can preview the entire book, but that the ebook only lets you preview the first eight pages.

From Ian’s comments in the book:

When I first stumbled across a list of group names (also known as collective nouns) on wiktionary, I found the term “an ambush of tigers” so exciting that I just had to draw it. By the time I had done “a clowder of cats,” I knew I was hooked.

At turns whimsical and at others poetic, the names for groups of animals tell us a lot not only about how we personify animals and birds, but also about the way language evolves over time.

With phrases like “an Obstinacy of Buffaloes” and “an Implausibility of Gnus”… how can you go wrong? I’m a huge fan of this project, and think you’d like it as well.

Also, definitely check out Ian’s art blog. He’s included some of his own work, but primarily focuses on other artists and works he admires. Lots of great stuff there.

illustration

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