Description
Book SynopsisThe story of the thoroughly Victorian origins of dog breeds. For centuries, different types of dogs were bred around the world for work, sport, or companionship. But it was not until Victorian times that breeders started to produce discrete, differentiated, standardized breeds. In The Invention of the Modern Dog, Michael Worboys, Julie-Marie Strange, and Neil Pemberton explore when, where, why, and how Victorians invented the modern way of ordering and breeding dogs. Though talk of breed was common before this period in the context of livestock, the modern idea of a dog breed defined in terms of shape, size, coat, and color arose during the Victorian period in response to a burgeoning competitive dog show culture. The authors explain how breeders, exhibitors, and showmen borrowed ideas of inheritance and pure blood, as well as breeding practices of livestock, horse, poultry and other fancy breeders, and applied them to a species that was long thought about solely in terms of work and
Trade ReviewCharles Darwin, Charles Dickens and P. T. Barnum walk into a pub . . . a classic comic set-up that can only lead to one punch line:
The Invention of the Modern Dog. This chronicle—by science historians Michael Worboys and Neil Pemberton and historian Julie-Marie Strange—charts the confluence of biology, class, and popular entertainment that resulted in an unprecedented burst of nineteenth-century canine breeding. That tumult, they argue, stares out at us today from the eyes of our dogs.
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NatureReveals how the Victorians invented the modern way of ordering and breeding man's best friend.
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The Sunday PostIn
The Invention of the Modern Dog, the authors show how our modern attitudes to breeds have been shaped by Victorian cultural ideals. The book makes for a fascinating read for anyone interested in the origins of today's dog breeds.
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Pets MagazineWorboys, Strange and Pemberton have produced a magnificent book . . . a wonderfully lively text that traces the sources of our own obsession with doggy design and offers a gentle warning about what is at stake when we fiddle too far.
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The GuardianHighly entertaining and plentifully illustrated.
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Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. 1800-1873
Chapter 1. Before Breed, 1800-1860
Chapter 2. Adopting Breed, 1860-1867
Chapter 3. Showing Breed, 1867-1874
Part II. 1873-1901
Chapter 4. Governing Breed
Chapter 5. Improving Breed I: Experience
Chapter 6. Improving Breed II: Science
Chapter 7. Whither Breed
Conclusion. The Present in the Past
Notes
Index
Color plates appear following page XX
