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.