Monday, April 30, 2012

This Is the Start of A Nice Menagerie Blog/Website I Happened Across.


 George Wombwell was invited to Windsor Castle and the Menagerie was visited by Queen Vicitria together with members of the Royal family. The following image is of a hand painted print produced by G. Webb and Co., 9 Snow Hill, London circa 1848-50 (Engraving or Lithotype, 39"x31"). The representation followed newspaper reports and sketches published November 1847.



Website for this image

This website is dedicated to the Travelling Menagerie and in particular (but not exclusively) George Wombwell, the most famous Victorian showman and Menagerist. It will eventually contain many verified resources. The story of Travelling Menageries and George Wombwell are difficult tales to tell since hitherto there have not been a great deal of reliable sources of information regarding Wombwell other than anecdotes and various forms of misinformation. The site will take many months or even years to materialise in a form that the authors are happy to publish. If you have anything to contribute then please get in touch with me at shauneverett@georgewombwell.com.

1 comment:

Greg May said...

KING OF AQUARIA says: 'I was tickled to learn that famous showman, P.T. Barnum displayed a total of six beluga whales in his American Museum in New York City between 1860 and 1866! The whales were netted in Quebec and shipped by railroad to New York in boxes filled with wet seaweed. Barnum bribed the city alderman to let him build a pipeline through Manhattan to bring seawater to his whales which were housed in a glass-enclosed tank 24 feet square and feet deep. Sadly, the last whales perished in the Museum's fire in 1866.'