One Unicorn

By Gale Cooper

ONE UNICORN, at 48 pages with elaborate full-color illustrations, transforms Medieval unicorn mythology into a fairytale of innocence lost and regained in love's eternal cycle. In the thirtieth year of his reign, a kind king gets a sad mystical prophecy: he cannot protect his beloved young daughter's innocence. The next day, that princess finds a perfect flower, whose thorn-prick brings her first tears. From a droplet of her blood and her teardrop, materializes a unicorn. She secretly meets that loving unicorn until her first lie ends her innocence and leads to his killing by waiting hunters. Ultimately, a unicorn returns to her own daughter, after the princess becomes queen. Unicorns appear in ancient Greek writings, in the Judeo-Christian Bible, and in heraldry. Most famous are Medieval images, epitomized by two sets of tapestries depicting a pure maiden and the hunted unicorn, having overtones of holy martyrdom. Seven such tapestries are in the Cloisters collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, New York. Another six unicorn tapestries are in the Mus e de Cluny in Paris, France. The author and illustrator, GALE COOPER, is a Harvard educated, M.D. psychiatrist, who has written and illustrated other books on fantasy, animal anatomy, and human interest; and has written both fiction and non-fiction books on the Old West. Other Books by the Author: Unicorn Moon; Meerly A. Bair; Inside Animals; Introduction to Animal Anatomy; Anatomy of the Frog; Anatomy of the Guinea Pig; Joseph Naiman and his Family; Animal People; Joy of the Birds: A Novel; Billy and Paulita: A Novel; Billy the Kid's Writings, Words, and Wit; MegaHoax: The Strange Plot to Exhume Billy the Kid and Become President; Billy the Kid's Pretenders: Brushy Bill and John Miller; and Pardon for Billy the Kid: An Analysis.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0984505474
• ISBN13: 9780984505470
• Release Date: June 2013
• Publisher: Gelcour Books
• Length: 50 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

My favorite book as a child

This was my favorite book as a child, my father would read it to me every night. The illustrations are amazing, realistic due to Dr. Cooper's understanding of anatomy, and fanciful at the same time. I didn't want to be just any old princes when I was growing up . . . I wanted to be Princess Alicia from this book! A wonderful story for any little girl

"One Unicorn": Beautiful Book

This larger-size hardcover contains lots of brilliant, detailed illustrations of princesses & unicorns (in colored pencil, I think). The language is simple and delicate, telling of the inevitable experience of "growing up"; the waning of interest in what were once precious childhood things. The ending was bittersweet. Overall, it's a good book for both kids and grown-ups, and a very nice piece to have in a collection.

Beauty Embodied

This books was one of my favourite when I was a small child. I recently found my childhood copy again, and was nearly brought to tears by the beauty that still spills from its pages. The illustrations are colourful and absolutely gorgeous, and the story, though simple, is one that can infuse a person's entire life, from childhood to death.

"One Unicorn" by Gale Cooper

The reason I rate this book 5 stars is because it's a very good story with an appreciated moral and the illustrations are the most beautiful I have ever seen. For instance, even the cover page has a beautiful baby unicorn with blue eyes and a gold alicorn and hooves.