The image on this shirt reproduces a wood engraving that illustrates a Catalan ballad about the exploits of a giant killer snail run amok, depicted here destroying ships. Josep Ferré, a popular Catalan poet, composed the story in 350 lines of rhyming quatrains and published it in Reus, Spain, around 1885. We learn that the giant snail "was born between mud and sludge" and that the people of Cardona finally conquered the monstrous gastropod by pouring salt on it. The tale begins in the city of Farsante (Bogus) in the province of Miententodos (Everyone Lies)—so we know the story is fiction! Josep Ferré (Spain, 1835–1906). Gran Historia de los Hechos y Estragos del Más Grande Caracol que se ha Visto en el Mundo ("The Great Story of the Events and Destruction Wrought by the Largest Snail the World has Ever Seen") (detail), about 1885. Phillips Library purchase, 2020. --- Made in the USA 50% Polyester, 37% Cotton, 13% Rayon Machine wash cold, tumble dry low. Fair Trade, Sustainable fabrics.
