1. Adventure
2. Art techniques
3. Book design
4. Dragons
5. Fantasy
6. Humour
7. Imagination
8. Language
9. Letters
10. Mythical creatures
11. Visual literacy

Graeme Base a.k.a. Rowland W. Greasebeam is a Serpentologist who firmly believes he has established that dragons are not myth and legend but a genuine part of the natural world. In this book he promulgates his ideas based on the historic evidence of three previously unknown persons, ‘Bjorn of Bromme, a ninth-century Viking; Mei Ying, the youngest daughter of a thirteenth-century Chinese silk trader; and Dr E.F. Liebermann, an obscure mid-nineteenth-century Prussian cartographer and amphibiologist’. This trio of correspondents chronicle their discoveries of dragons on the various continents to relatives or in the case of Dr Liebermann, his long-suffering fiancée, Miss Prunella Hapsburgenfries.

Each of the book’s double-page spread contains a facsimile of the particular correspondent’s letter and full-colour drawings of the dragons. In addition, there are edit notes, plate captions, maps and scale drawings comparing he dragons in size to various animals or in one case a human beating a hasty retreat. As you would expect from Graeme Base, the book is full of wondrous illustrations containing the intricate detail for which he is famous. The illustrated borders at the bottom of each double-page spread provide humour and ‘information’ in a series of photographic style images.

The book is very funny and delights in deadpan commentary throughout. The letters are full of silly details such the Viking Bjorn’s letterhead ‘General Looting and Pillaging’, ‘Gratuitous Violence a Speciality’ or Dr Liebermann’s ongoing confusion and assurances that he will return home in triumph to Munich to marry his beloved Prunella. Base also enjoys poking fun at the legendary in-fighting between academics as evidenced by the must read ‘Publishers Note’ at the end.

This is an imaginative and highly creative book as is its equally creative sequel, ‘The Discovery of Dragons : New Research Revealed’.

1. Kirkus Reviews October 15, 1996. Review of ‘The Discovery of Dragons’ by Graeme Base https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/graeme-base/the-discovery-of-dragons/
2. Copyright Agency Reading Australia 2018 “The Garret: Graeme Base’ includes a podcast and teachers’ resource https://readingaustralia.com.au/books/garret-graeme-base/
3. ABC Education Splash Live with Deb Abela – ‘Let’s draw with Graeme Base’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVo7I9DTtuc
4. Moreton Bay Region Libraries September 17, 2020 ‘Meet the author- Graeme Base’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lLjQurJX-4
5. Smithsonian Magazine 23 January 2012 Joseph Stromberg asks, ‘Where did Dragons Come From?’ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/where-did-dragons-come-from-23969126/
6. Kim Berkley January 15, 2021 ‘’Writing about Dragons; Balancing Convention and Creativity’. https://storytellerkim.com/index.php/2021/01/15/writing-about-dragons-balancing-convention-and-creativity/