Beastly Britain

One of the great joys I take in the study of natural history is the astonishingly wide breadth of not only the subject matter it can encompass but also the remarkably diverse techniques by which it can be approached. Some prefer to hold close to more modern scientific methods, while others – and here I include myself – enjoy ranging freely into such areas of study as history itself, literature, folklore, and art as well in order to seek out a more expansive understanding of whatever subject is at hand.

In her recently published book Beastly Britain; An Animal History, Prof. Karen R. Jones delights her readers with recountings of the natural as well as social, folkloric, literary, and even linguistic histories of ten iconic British animal species. Ranging across the popular (hedgehog and fox), the domestic (sheep and pigeon), the aquatic (newt and herring), the very small (stag beetle and flea), the mythic (black dog), and the prehistoric (plesiosaur), the subjects chosen by Prof. Jones enable her to weave narratives that are as enlightening and informative as they are captivating and entertaining.

And were this not enough to make this a book much to be desired in the library of any naturalist worth his or her hand lens, the physical quality of the book – the rich and creamy paper, the exquisitely chosen type face and ink colour of the printing (a very, very dark purplish brown perhaps?), the superb directly-printed, matte colour illustrations that harken back to natural history books of a time now sadly lost, the lovely end-papers, and even the very binding itself – make this a work that will most certainly entice any ardent bibliophile and do honor to the shelf upon which it is place.