Our Merfolk   

Mythologies surrounding mermaids connect in meaningful ways with the identity and mission of Marginalia Rare Books.  Particularly during the 18th century, mermaids were considered harbingers of storms – reminders to men at sea of their inability to dominate nature. With an ability to read natural forces rather than a desire to control them, mermaids would emerge from the water during storms’ approach to sit along rocky coastlines, combing their hair and watching the precarity of the vessels navigating between water and rock.  Mermaids carried an undeniable sense of ‘otherness’ for sailors. Sitting in a liminal space between earth and sea, they were femme and queer and unashamed of displaying their unique beauty.  Hybrid in their humanness, not of any one racial group, and with gender identities not related to specific physical genitalia, mermaids represent a range of groups that such men have attempted to marginalize or dominate.  Yet no one past or present has managed to diminish the mermaid’s symbolic power. Nor have they silenced the groups that see themselves reflected back in the mermaid’s mirror.

Mermaid figures combing their hair and admiring themselves in mirrors are of special interest to us at Marginalia. We invite the public to send us images of those pre-1900 examples of mermaids-with-mirrors along with the stories of where they encountered them.