author
Frank Hamel
A prolific early 20th-century writer, this British author ranged from literary biography to folklore and the uncanny. Best known today for a study of shapeshifting legends, the work blends curiosity, wide reading, and a taste for unusual subjects.
1 Audiobook
Human Animals
by Frank Hamel
About the author
Frank Hamel was a British author active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Available catalog records and public-domain editions show a wide-ranging body of work, including literary and historical studies such as books on Jean de La Fontaine, Lady Hester Stanhope, Émilie du Châtelet, and other figures from French and European history.
The book most often associated with Hamel now is Human Animals (also published as Werewolves, Bird-Women, Tiger-Men and Other Human Animals), a survey of legends and beliefs about human transformation into animals. Its lasting appeal comes from the way it gathers folklore, superstition, and cultural history into a single readable volume.
Some modern sources describe Hamel as a London bookseller as well as a writer, but the clearest consistently confirmed detail is the breadth of the published work itself. For readers browsing older nonfiction, Hamel stands out for turning scholarly curiosity into books that still feel lively and strange in the best way.