Encyclopedia Gryphonica

Ah, there you are. Do come in — but quietly, if you please. The floors here echo dreadfully, and I have only just gotten Mr. Finchley settled at his desk. If he hears visitors, he will want to show them his filing system, and then we shall never get any work done.

I am Penwyck Calavast, Head Librarian of the Great Library at Merlin Hall, and I have a small announcement for you today.

You may have noticed, over the years, that the magical world is rather extensively populated with creatures, artifacts, histories, and personages of considerable interest. You may also have noticed that no one has ever bothered to write any of it down properly. The wizards are too busy blowing things up, the Guardians are too busy chasing after the wizards, and the young people — well. The less said about their attention spans, the better.

Someone, I decided, ought to compile a proper reference work. An encyclopedia, if you will, of the Gryphon Chronicles world — its peoples, its places, its peculiarities. And I knew just the fellow for the job.

Mr. Finchley?

Hm? What? Oh! Oh, good gracious — are they here already? I haven’t finished cross-referencing the entry on — never mind. Never mind, it can wait. Let me just — where are my spectacles? They were just — ah. On my face. Yes. Very good.

Ahem. Good day to you. Do please sit down — no, not that chair, that one has my research notes on it. The other one. Mind the ink pot.

I am Mr. Aldous Finchley, Resident Scholar of the Great Library at Merlin Hall, and I am given to understand that you have come to hear about my great project. Mr. Calavast is too modest to say so, but it was he who recognized the need for this undertaking and entrusted it to me — a decision which I believe history will regard as profoundly wise.

Before we proceed, you will no doubt wish to know who is addressing you. Fair enough. One should always check the credentials of one’s sources; I approve of your scholarly instincts.

I am a Vale Elf, thank you very much — not a house brownie, though I forgive the confusion. We Vale Elves are the practical branch of elvenkind. While our loftier cousins may occupy themselves with looking regal in moonlit glades, we have traditionally devoted ourselves to the far more useful arts of commerce, administration, and keeping the magical economy from collapsing into chaos.

I spent the better part of fifty years as a clerk in the Order of the Yew Tree’s treasury department, reconciling accounts and auditing budgets. Sensible work, my family said. Respectable work. And no doubt they were right. But every evening I found myself hunched over candlelight reading bestiaries, histories, and old accounts of magical curiosities until my eyes watered.

Well. I have now diverted myself straight through retirement and into the finest library in the known world. Here, with Mr. Calavast’s encouragement, I have undertaken what is surely the most important scholarly project of the age: The Encyclopedia Gryphonica.

Within these archives you will find a growing compendium of the peoples, places, creatures, artifacts, and assorted peculiarities of our magical world — each entry researched, compiled, and filed by yours truly, with all due care and proper alphabetical dignity.

Mr. Calavast insists that visitors be allowed to browse as they please. I myself maintain that alphabetical order is the only civilized method. Still, I suppose we must make allowances for the public.

Or, if you insist on disorder, simply begin wherever curiosity leads you.