The Tower Menagerie

6b, Bennett, Edward Turner 1797-1836 / Harvey, William 1796-1866 (illustrator), London: 1829 First edition

Notes

The Tower Menagerie (c. 1797–1836) was the final phase of a much older royal tradition of keeping exotic animals at the Tower of London, and it played an important role in the early public understanding of natural history.

Overview

• The Tower Menagerie had existed in various forms since the 13th century, but by the late 18th century it had shifted from a private royal collection to a public attraction.

• Between 1797 and 1836, it functioned as a rudimentary natural history exhibit, open to paying visitors and increasingly framed as educational rather than symbolic.

Animals and Displays

• The menagerie housed lions, tigers, leopards, elephants, bears, wolves, birds, and monkeys—many obtained through imperial trade, diplomatic gifts, and colonial expansion.

• Animals were kept in iron-barred cages along the Outer Ward of the Tower, often in cramped and unhealthy conditions by modern standards.

• Species were sometimes mislabeled or poorly understood, reflecting the early state of zoological science.

Description

A very good half leather binding.  Black calf spine and corners over marled boards, five raised bands on spine, edges rubbed and carefully strengthened .  Toned endpapers.  Clean text and illustrations throughout.  Delightful illustrative animal portrait woodcuts by Messrs.  Branston and Wright begin nearly all of the fifty-nine listings, ending with a smaller tail-piece usually of the animal in a natural setting.