A REVIEW OF THE FLAT-COATED RETRIEVER. By Nancy Laughton.

1968 1st edition. Small 8vo (123 x 192mm). Pp204. B/w photographs and illustrations, pedigrees, preface by Wilson Stephens, editor of The Field. Blue cloth, spine titled in gilt. Dust-wrapper price 21/-.

"A Review of the Flat-Coated Retriever first appeared as a limited edition in 1968 when it was published privately by the author to fulfill a much-needed requirement by what was then a narrow field of patrons of the Flat-coated Retriever. Since then the demand for the book has grown considerably ... [This] is the only authoritative book on the breed and deals with its evolution, beginning in the last half of the nineteenth century, and its varying fortunes to the present day. I also examine its relations to the other retriever breeds." From the second edition. This is that privately-published first edition. Chapters include; Preface by Mr. Wilson Stephens; The Flat-coat in particular; Male lines of descent 20th century; Declining fortunes; Present day kennels; The current breed standards and its amplification; Ancestors of the Flat-coated Retriever; Emergence of the Flat-coated Retriever; The wavy-coated retriever; Various descriptions and patrons of the Flat-coated Retriever. The many appendices include; Breed clubs past and present, table of measurements, registration graphs, pedigree of Ch. Darenth, male lines of descent to present day, oustanding bitches, yearly summary of notable dogs 1920 to present day, field trial awards in breed stakes 1924 to present day.