![Wood cut image of a basilisk. The basilisk is a very long serpent with an arrow coing out of its mouth and a crown on its head.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHp1Ve8JENFnmPN079khUnWvAoWTkS38GKMP-QjMkjyZCCERxBB6mJaNLDhQ7LahFqfMk-x4K7mQxbe-JwEmBxw0eBAPIHQg6KCGp4JT7Q9iOL9ZCZ-5yQyg7yaoe7q7LrSGQ9VdWVzOc/s320/DSCN0776+%25281%2529.jpg)
What you may not know is that there is a Basilisk in Rauner. It is not down in the cavernous depths below the building, but on the second floor in the Rare collection. It is not very threatening to staff--none of us have been eaten, yet. Generally it stays politely within the covers of Conrad Gesners's Icones animalivm qvadrvpedvm viviparorvm et oviparorvm (Tigvri: excvdebat C. Froschovervs, 1560). There are some other cool beasts lurking in the pages--all very real to Gesner.
Come in this evening to see Rauner's Basilisk, or you can ask for Rare QL41.G372 anytime.