The Tower Menagerie : comprising the Natural History of the Animals contained in that Establishment; with Anecdotes of their Characters and History.

Illustrated by portraits of each, taken from life, by William Harvey; and engraved on wood by Branston and Wright. London : Robert Jennings, 1829. First edition. Octavo (230 x 150 mm), original quarter green morocco (a little scuffed) over plain boards (darkened and marked), spine with gilt lettering; original red endpapers, first blank with early owner’s name Thomas Gilks Junr. and date 1837; xviii, 241 pp, illustrated; binding firm, clean throughout, a very good copy.

A fascinating early nineteenth-century publication which serves as a guide book to the collection of exotic animals kept at the menagerie of the Tower of London, one of the earliest public zoos. Each animal is accorded an engraved illustration and a short essay. Included are the relatively recently discovered Australian animals the Kanguroo, Yellow-crested Cockatoo and New Holland Emeu, which apparently adapted to the London environment well enough to thrive and reproduce. In 1832 the Menagerie was closed and the animals were relocated to Regent’s Park.

Not in Ferguson.