As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Resurrectionist

Spencer Black exhumes corpses as a child, trains in medicine and conducts cruel experiments. This illustrated fictional archive also presents his anatomical studies of mythological beasts.

Read full description

A haunting blend of gothic fiction, Victorian medical history, and breathtaking anatomical illustration, The Resurrectionist imagines a lost scientific archive proving that mythical creatures once walked beside humanity.

“Disturbingly lovely . . . a cabinet of curiosities, stitching history and mythology and sideshow into an altogether different creature.”—Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus

Presented as the recovered life story and scientific work of the infamous Dr. Black, The Resurrectionist offers two extraordinary experiences in one volume. The first part is a chilling fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, from his childhood spent exhuming corpses through his medical training, his travels with carnivals, his cruel and crazed experiments, and, finally, his mysterious disappearance. The second part is Black’s magnum opus: The Codex Extinct Animalia , a Gray’s Anatomy for mythological beasts, all rendered in meticulously detailed anatomical illustrations that resemble pages from a Victorian medical textbook.

A unique blend of mythology, horror, fantasy, and speculative history

Collectible oversized format perfect for display and gifting

Ideal for fans of museum curiosities, anatomy art, and illustrated fantasy

Open the lost notebooks of Dr. Spencer Black and decide for yourself whether myth is stranger—or closer to truth—than history ever imagined.

First published: 2013
Publisher: Quirk Books
Pages: 192
Amazon reviews: Read reviews on Amazon

Book tags

Content warnings

No content warnings are recorded. Missing warnings do not mean the book is warning-free.

Horror profile

Scary: Not rated
Creepy: Not rated
Gore: Not rated
Disturbing: Not rated
Weird: Not rated

How we calculate this

These are editorial estimates of intensity, informed by reading and review evidence, then checked before publication. They aren't star ratings, reader-vote averages or a measure of quality.

Each dimension runs from 1 (low) to 5 (exceptionally intense). A 5 is reserved for strongly consistent evidence. People experience horror differently.

Scary: Fear, tension and immediate threat.
Creepy: Unease, dread and an uncanny atmosphere.
Gore: Graphic injury, blood and bodily detail.
Disturbing: Upsetting ideas and lingering psychological impact.
Weird: Surreal, strange and reality-bending elements.

We draw a filled profile only when all five scores have been reviewed. Unrated does not mean mild. Missing scores are not estimated from genre tags or your saved taste. This profile isn't a complete content-warning guide.