This little charmer is a replica of a medieval owl from the Bodleian Library shop in Oxford. It is inspired by 'The Ashmole Bestiary, a 13th century manuscript. When researching this, I was surprised to discover that the reputation of the owl in the Middle Ages was that of "a dirty bird that prefers darkness to light" Now, of course, we consider the owl a wise bird appropriate to be the symbol for a library. I bought several of these for friends and couldn't resist keeping one for myself.
