[DOGS - Early American Illustrations]. The Council of Dogs: illustrated with suitable engravings

Philadelphia: Published by Johnson & Warner, No. 147, Market-Street, Brown & Merritt, printers, 24, Church-alley), 1821. Very good. Square 12mo. 16 pp. With 8 plates including frontispiece (dated 1821) which has been mounted inside front wrapper as per most copies (one plate loose; final page partially pasted onto the inside of lower cover; plates browned as is always the case on account of the inferior paper stock). Original salmon stiff wrappers. ¶ First American Edition, second issue, ONE OF THE FIRST BOOKS PRINTED IN AMERICA WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF DOGS. The poem makes oblique references to the Dog Tax proposed in Britain in 1796. As a Pro-Union diatribe against government oppression, "The Council of Dogs" is hardly suitable for children. First published in London by Harris in 1808, its bitter satire much darker than most "children's books" of the time. Unlike the typical whimsical chapbook illustrations that intermix human and animal parts, the pictures in "The Council of Dogs" are carefully delineated and seem more akin to British dog-breeding prints.

THE STORY: After announcing that dogs feel overlooked in all the excitement over the butterfly and peacock gatherings, various dog breeds appear and give partisan soapbox speeches about the superiority of one breed over another. The poem moves away from Dorset's pattern as the content grows darker. Eventually, all sense of the child-as-reader disappears, and the poem becomes an overt protest of the dog tax and a covert call for Workers to Unite.

THE DOG TAX OF 1796: Rural dog gatherings were associated with unruly working-class gatherings, such as animal fights and bear and bull baiting. Animal control laws were one of many legal measures to circumscribe the lives of the poor and protect the privilege of the rich. The dog licensing act was intended to control unregulated dogs that roamed the city streets. Since the dog owner (not the dog) was required to carry the license, dog licenses ultimately regulated owners. The compelling force behind the Dog Tax was not to generate revenue but rather to discourage the rural poor from owning Poaching Dogs. It is significant that one of the speaking animals in "The Council of Dogs" is a Poacher's Dog. Further, as Ritvo has suggests, when dog shows began in England in 1859, they were dedicated to controlling dog breeds and stopping indiscriminate cross-breeding. Dog shows created model-breed specimens and discouraged mongrels." (SOURCE: Donelle Ruwe, "British Children's Poetry in the Romantic Era" pp. 25-26).

¶ REFERENCES: Moon, 166. Osborne, p. 627. Rosenbach 389. Welch, American children's books, 241. Rosenbach 603.