The
Bartlett Society's republished edition of Clinton Keeling's book Where the Lion Trod (photograph © The
Bartlett Society – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis
for educational/review purposes only)
I first became friends with Clinton Harry
Keeling (C.H. Keeling was how he styled himself when authoring publications) back
in the 1990s, when I subscribed to his self-published magazine Mainly About Animals – a fascinating
pot-pourri of unusual but always memorable wildlife subjects and trivia of the
kind that for the most part had lately and tragically fallen between the cracks
of mainstream zoological literature. Back in the 19th century,
conversely, much data of this eclectic yet also esoteric nature resided in such
famous publications as the venerable, long-vanished periodical entitled The Zoologist. Now, thanks to Clinton's
magazine, they could once again thrive in a veritable menagerie of natural
history miscellanea, its contents written by Clinton and also a host of
enthusiastic contributors.
'Menagerie' is a very apposite word to
use here, because one of the most outstanding features of both Clinton and his
periodical was the extraordinary wealth of knowledge that this man and his
magazine encapsulated regarding the history of British zoos, animal parks,
menageries, and travelling sideshows that exhibited animals down through the
centuries. A self-taught zoologist born
in 1932 who went on to run his own zoological park, establish a highly
successful and exceedingly popular wildlife education service lecturing in
schools and generally accompanied by various of his exotic animals, Clinton
spent a lifetime acquiring this specialized knowledge and enthusiastically
disseminated it via innumerable articles published in countless periodicals,
both scientific and popular-format.
Sharing his love for this selfsame subject,
Clinton and I soon began corresponding on all manner of related themes,
especially concerning the possible identity of certain mysterious creatures
that had been displayed in such exhibitions at one time or another – and during
our correspondence I learned that over the course of time he had self-published
an extensive series of books compiling and preserving for future generations
this priceless historical material that might otherwise be lost. Having said
that, it may indeed have been preserved, but actually accessing it was another
matter entirely, inasmuch as these uniquely precious books proved to be just as
elusive as some of the controversial beasts documented within them. Consisting
of nine volumes in all, among aficionados they were – and still are – fondly referred
to as Clinton's Where the… books, on
account of their titles' shared tag words. And so, beginning in 1984, they
consisted of Where the Lion Trod, Where the Crane Danced (published in
1985), Where the Zebu Grazed (1989), Where the Elephant Walked (1991), Where the Macaw Preened (1993), Where the Penguin Plunged (1995), Where the Leopard Lazed (1999), Where the Peacock Screamed (2002), and Where the Camel Strode (2003 – just four
years before Clinton passed away).
Once I learned of these works, I
diligently sought them out both online and in physical bookshops far and wide,
nationally and internationally – including at Hay-on-Wye, the world-famous
'Town of Books' on the English-Welsh border that at its height contained around
40 second-hand book shops, which I frequented many times each year, purchasing
numerous books, but without ever spotting any of Clinton's above-listed ones.
Unsurprisingly, any spare copies that Clinton himself may once have owned were
long gone, and so my search continued, and intensified – indeed, to a
zoobibliophile like I am it became akin to finding the Holy Grail in printed
form – but all to no avail. And then, last year, yet another online search by
me made a sensational discovery – with permission granted by Clinton's widow
Pam, a British natural history society had actually republished the first of
Clinton's never-to-be-found ninesome and was planning to republish all of the
remaining eight too!
The society in question was The Bartlett
Society, named in honour of Abraham Dee Bartlett, the eminent 19th-Century
superintendent of the Zoological Society of London's gardens at Regent's Park, devoted
to studying yesterday's methods of keeping wild animals, and founded in 1984 by
none other than a certain C.H. Keeling! (Click here
to visit its website.) When I contacted the Society informing them of my
longstanding friendship with Clinton but my hitherto fruitless search for his
books and my passionate interest in reading and reviewing their recently
published edition of Where the Lion Trod,
they very kindly sent me a review copy. Suddenly, after more than two decades,
my quest for the first – indeed, for any – of Clinton's legendary Where the… books was at an end, as I
found myself holding an exceedingly handsome A4-sized hardback book (RRP
£24.95) with crimson covers and truly enthralling contents ensconced within its
146 pages.
Much has changed, especially with regard
to zoological classification and animal husbandry, since Where the Lion Trod first appeared in 1984, but in order to
preserve its original form and historical significance the Society has made
what I feel to have been a wise decision, in that apart from correcting a few
typos it has elected to leave the book's content unaltered, so that it remains
essentially the very same volume that Clinton wrote more than three decades
ago. The only notable difference, and one that is definitely very useful to the
modern-day reader, is the addition at the end of each of its 20 principal
chapters by the book's editor, John Adams, of an appendix containing a list of
all of the animals referred to in it, plus some beneficial explanatory notes
and updates where necessary. Each principal chapter is devoted to a different
menagerie or zoological garden, arranged chronologically, beginning with the
Tower of London Menagerie (c.1245-1832) in Chapter 2 (Chapter 1 is Clinton's
own setting-the-stage introduction), and progressing chapter by chapter through
such significant establishments as the Exeter 'Change and Surrey Zoological
Garden, Windsor Park, the first Liverpool Zoological Garden, the Manchester
Zoological Garden, the first Edinburgh Zoological Garden, the Cardiff
Zoological Garden, and so on, ending in Chapter 20 with the Maidstone
Zoological Garden, which closed in 1959. An additional chapter, entitled Final
Cogitations, provides a concise, thoughtful conclusion and in turn offers much
food for thought as to what is still to come in the subsequent eight Where the… books.
The
Bartlett Society's edition of Clinton Keeling's previously-unpublished book Ligers, Tigons and Other Hybrid Mammals
(photograph © The Bartlett Society – reproduced here on a strictly
non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
Within each of the principal chapters,
the content is standard, consisting of the history of how the establishment
came into existence, the most notable animals that it exhibited at one time or
another, where these animals originated and what happened to them once the
establishment finally closed, and as previously noted a list of these animals –
which for me is an especially fascinating portion, because it invariably
includes a number of mystifying creatures whose zoological identities remain
uncertain or entirely unresolved. Like me, Clinton had always been interested
in cryptozoology, the investigation of animals whose existence or identity has
yet to be ascertained by mainstream science, and he was not averse to
speculating that some of the most baffling beasts exhibited at some of these
menageries and zoological parks might actually have been species then-unknown
and possibly even still unknown to science. Indeed, I have previously
documented in a ShukerNature article (click here
to access it) that some such beasts were the subject of an extensive
communication sent to me by Clinton many years ago, in which he speculated that
more than a century earlier some bona fide specimens of the Nandi bear – an
infamously ferocious but formally unconfirmed Kenyan mystery mammal – may actually
have been exhibited alive in Britain. Clinton was also very interested in
hybrid animals, especially mammals, and referred to various examples that were
exhibited in the establishments documented by him here. (Interestingly, he even
wrote a book on this subject, Ligers,
Tigons and Other Hybrid Mammals, pictured above, although it existed only in manuscript form until published by
the Society in 2016, and is currently out of print – another Keeling book quest
requires my undertaking, methinks!)
Last but by no means least, this already
very sumptuous volume is made even more so by the addition of a series of
exquisite reproductions of rare vintage illustrations of some of the zoos and
their animals, scattered through the chapters. They serve very effectively, and
evocatively, in conjuring these erstwhile establishments forth from the shadows
of the distant (and sometimes not so distant) past, and breathing a visual life
back into them, giving us a precious, seldom-seen glimpse of their heydays, as
well as their triumphs, treasures, and tragedies.
I had planned to review this wonderful
book some time ago, but as we all know only too well, 2020 has had other ideas
as to what would be concentrating our minds and transforming our lives during
the several past and likely many succeeding months, so my writings have fallen
somewhat behind. Happily, however, I can now via this review wholeheartedly
recommend The Bartlett Society's well-presented and extremely welcome resurrection
of Clinton's first Where the… book,
which I guarantee unreservedly will enthrall and entertain for a long time to
come all readers with an interest in the history of zoological gardens in
Britain and the vast array of extraordinary animals that they housed, often
providing their astonished visitors with the very first views of their exotic
species ever obtained on these shores.
I now await with bated breath the
republication of Clinton's remaining eight volumes – who knows what surprises
and delights await within their all-too-long unseen contents? (Indeed, even as
I write this, his second book, Where the
Crane Danced, is due to be published soon by the Society and can be
pre-ordered there – click here.) Whatever
they do contain, I do know with certainty that Clinton would heartily approve
of his researches being made available to new and old generations of readers
alike. I feel very privileged to have been one of his many friends, and to have
been able to review this first volume in the much-deserved renaissance of his
greatest works.
Incidentally, I had originally planned to
list and briefly examine here some of the still-contentious beasts of
mystifying, zoologically-opaque nature exhibited at certain of the
establishments documented in this delightful book, but that would spoil the fun
for its readers. Consequently, I'll leave them unconsidered, so that you can cogitate
and reflect upon their putative identities for yourself when you buy it!
My sincere thanks to John Adams at The
Bartlett Society for most generously providing me with a complimentary review
copy of Where the Lion Trod.
Coming
shortly - The Bartlett Society's soon-to-be republished edition of Clinton
Keeling's book Where the Crane Danced
(photograph © The Bartlett Society – reproduced here on a strictly
non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
Posts
