Traveling Menageries 1700-1850

In bygone times, knowledge of the animal kingdom was the domain of the privileged, but from the eighteenth century, traveling menageries taught natural history to the masses. These zoos on wheels were popular places of entertainment that masqueraded as respectable educational facilities, and people from all echelons of society patronized them.

Traveling Menageries is an amusing and engaging history of a new entertainment genre that became one of Britain's most beloved amusements. This detailed history of the early traveling animal entertainment business tells of the colorful proprietors, the flamboyant performers, and the outlandish animals who made indelible impressions on the childhood memories of those who lived then. Exhibiting living curiosities raised a multitude of legal, moral, and social issues and risks that the book exposes. It explores the forces that precipitated the rise and ultimate demise of these shows. By 1850, traveling menageries had had their day.