REBIRTH OF THE ROYAL SPANIEL: THE CLUMBER IN THE FIELD. By James Darley.

2021 1st edition. Large 4to (237 x 305mm). Pp175,ill. Colour plates of paintings, colour and monochrome photographs. Foreword by Colonel David Hancock. Purple cloth, spine and upper board titled in gilt.

"This book is the first devoted to the Clumber spaniel as a working gundog. It is a dramatic tale of the origins, development and successful revival of this distinctive 250-year old British breed, its readoption by the royal family, its rescue from decline, and its return to the field. It is told through its colourful history and as an entertaining, affectionate but determined personal memoir." Chapters include: Introduction; Prologue; Tredegar Park, South Wales, 1950; Margam Park, South Wales, 1990; Stowe School, Buckinghamshire, 1971; Blackheath, London, 1975; Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, 1976; A tale of two kennels, c1770; Origins and early accounts; Game Fair, Hampshire, 1959; Bethersden, Kent, 1977; Ashton, Lincolnshire, 1978; Teaching the master, 1979; The camera and the canvas, 1980; The upstart, 1982; A childhood of woe, 1984; Hambleden, Buckinghamshire, 1979; Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire, 1990; Fleet Street, London, 1991; Park Lane, London, 1991; Westminster, 2009; Radnage, Buckinghamshire, 2010; Evesham, Worcestershire, 2015; Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, 2018; Field trials, 1899-on; Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, 1999; A stick for the dogs, 1981; Where we are, 2021. Foreword by Colonel David Hancock, "A masterpiece of original research ...an important contribution to our knowledge of gundogs - not just the breed under review."