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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Saturday, December 10, 2016

a history of exotic pets in england


thanks vintageprintable (PD)

Samuel Pepys, the English diarist, had a pet eagle.  It "fouled the house mightily," so he handed it off to someone else.  Anne Boleyn was given a monkey and didn't like it one bit.  George IV fed his adored giraffe milk, not knowing any better; the poor creature died, of course. These anecdotes and more are given in the course of scholar Caroline Grigson's new book, "Menagerie: The History of Exotic Animals in England" (Oxford Press).  What drove this need for strange and rare creatures to be captured and shipped to a country where hardly anyone could guess how they needed to live?  I've found a couple of excellent book reviews that you'll enjoy reading:
The Guardian's review here.
The London Review of Books review here.

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