A Reading from the Book of Poultry
Sep 9th, 2016 by bachmann
“Hen Fever”, as it became known during the Victorian Age, was an unprecedented obsession with owning, breeding, and showing the finest chickens in the world. The genesis of the poultry fancier owes much to Queen Victoria and her royal menagerie. In 1842, she acquired exotic chickens from China, and whatever the Queen did, the public would soon try to imitate and incorporate at home. The Illustrated London News reported “Her Majesty’s collection of fowls is very considerable, occupying half-a-dozen very extensive yards, several small fields, and numerous feeding-houses, laying-sheds, hospitals, winter courts, &c.”. From this point forward, poultry was no longer viewed as common farmyard critters, but valued and appreciated throughout the classes of Victorian Britain. The import and breeding of poultry was not just a leisurely hobby, but a profitable endeavor with sky rocketing price tags for the finest examples. British author, Lewis Wright was a poultry, pigeon, and animal expert. His comprehensive publications on poultry played a major part in establishing and documenting rare breeds of poultry and tracing their histories, as well as promoting the fancier movement. His landmark publication, The Illustrated Book of Poultry, was so popular that it was revised and reprinted several times from 1870-1911. In addition to extensive descriptions, setting show standards, and offering instructions on keeping and breeding, this large tome also included numerous chromolithographs by ornithological artist, J.W. Ludlow. These illustrations, followed the example of Audubon, where the birds were portrayed in natural settings and poses. Poultry fanciers in Britain and U.S. valued the images just as much as the encyclopedic information.
“The introduction of these fowls, as we have already hinted, was a memorable event in the history of poultry; since they undoubtedly awakened that startling “mania” which was, calmly considered, one of the most curious phenomena of the nineteenth century, and which, after it died away, left behind it an enduring interest in poultry generally, which nothing has since been able to destroy. Scarcely any people at that time kept fowls ; and as for the few poultry-shows which, even then timidly endeavoured to attract the attention of a discerning public, they were regarded as the harmless craze of a few weak-minded individuals, looked upon in those days much as a man would be now who should devote his spare time and energies to the cultivation, of white mice. But the Cochins came like giants upon the scene; they were seen, and they conquered.”
“So begun, and so carried on, it has been of course a labour of love. The work has been great; but it has been pleasant work, lovingly and heartily done, and shared in by nearly all those best known in the poultry world. Without their aid we could have done little; but every one has brought his stone to the building. Never has such a mass of information, contributed by the best authorities in the “ fancy,” been brought together; and birds which no money could purchase have been freely entrusted to us for portraiture.”
- Description:
- Wright, Lewis, 1838-1905, author. The illustrated book of poultry : with practical schedules for judging, constructed from actual analysis of the best modern decisions. Revised edition. London ; Paris ; New York : Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., 1880.
- Persistent Link:
- http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:27420986
- Repository:
- Widener Library
- Institution:
- Harvard University
