Elizabeth I's Manuscript of Pierre Boaistuau's Histoires Prodigieuses (1559) (publicdomainreview.org)

In 1559, French humanist Pierre Boaistuau traveled to England aiming to secure Elizabeth I’s backing for his illustrated catalogue of wonders and monstrosities. The piece describes his forty-four-chapter Histoires prodigieuses as a mix of Bible, classical learning, travel accounts, and folklore—along with manuscript illustrations that drew on earlier printed imagery. It also notes that despite an Elizabethan dedication, the work was published in Paris instead, where it became popular through repeated reissues.