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| Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe | 
 enlarge | Author: Glynis Ridley
Publisher: Grove Press
Category: Book
List Price: $12.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (6 reviews)
Sales Rank: 846763
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 0802142338
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.6680929
EAN: 9780802142337
ASIN: 0802142338
Publication Date: November 29, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In 1741, an enterprising Dutch sea captain transported a young, female Indian rhinoceros from Assam to Europe where she was displayed before everyone from peasants to princes. In an age before railways and modern roads, the three-ton Clara traveled in an enormous coach drawn by eight horses. She journeyed across mainland Europe and Britain for 17 years, becoming a favorite of Frederick the Great and Louis XV. She modeled for scientific portraits and etchings; she inspired poems, songs, and fashions; and she was duly immortalized in everything from tin coins to the finest porcelain. Awarded the prestigious Institute of Historical Research Prize, Glynis Ridley's sparkling history brings Clara's tragicomic story vividly to life. Clara's Grand Tour is also a portrait of an era that saw the rhinoceros as both an object of marvel and a challenge to fundamental philosophical and theological beliefs.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Excellent Book January 17, 2007
When a friend gave me this as a gift, I thought, "What the heck is this?" But I gave it a shot, and I loved it. This is one of those quirky little books where the main subject is a fulcrum for a fascinating look at the political and social times in which it lived.
The book is a gem. I'm a Clara fan!
Interesting but a bit slow in places October 23, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed reading this book. It provides an insight into an age long ago when life was more limited geographically, and something as simple as seeing what a rhinocerous looks like was a special event.
The book moved a bit slowly in places since the author described the entire tour in a fair amount of detail. However, in the end I appreciated the thoroughness of the description.
The only real weak point was that it left me wishing that there had been more photographs of the playbills, medallions, and etchings which are mentioned in the text. But other than that, it is definitely worth reading.
 A wonderfully entertaining and enlightening read! September 2, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Glynis Ridley has written a delightful book, informative, entertaining, and sparkling with fascinating insights into everything from the travel habits of 18th-century Europeans to the Biblical iconography of the rhino. This is a must read for anyone interested in Europe in the age of Enlightenment.
"Clara's Grand Tour" - A Good Read June 15, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As an endangered species program manager, "Clara's Grand Tour" provided me with intriguing insights into the historical captive maintenance and display of a species now considered to be endangered. Ridley, using historical references and subsequent narratives on Clara's travels, does a fair job of synthesizing the information. (I applaud her on her efforts to appreciate the difficulities inherent in rhino captive maintenance; her visit(s) to the Cincinnati Zoo rhino collection was admirable!) Ridley attempts to fill in the blanks where the record is incomplete; her discussions of similar period ventures with other rhinos are particularly insightful. I also enjoyed the portions of the book that describe early animal collections, efforts to describe the species, early natural history writers, etc. Ridley's writing style/technique at times left me wondering, though. For example, in Chapter 1, Ridley describes a "renaissance of interest" in classical Graeco-Roman texts describing various species. She goes on to describe the unavailability of specimens to validate these textual descriptions, stating that African animals brought from the interior were generally unavailable for viewing because they were single specimens "conspicuously lacking in the sort of bulk and ferocity that made transportation overland both time-consuming and complex." I don't get this. While there are a few other places containing similarly garbled trains of thought, perhaps one of the most egregious oversights in this book is the failure of the author to include illustrations of Van de Meer's original souvenir posters and coins. With this being said, I did enjoy the book, plan to re-read it, and look forward to reading some of the additional cited references. I believe that this book rates three or four stars, and give it four largely for content.
Introducing the Rhinoceros to Europe April 19, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you can't get to the zoo, you can at least turn on the Discovery Channel, or a lot of others, and see scary, huge, exotic beasts that have no chance of showing up in your home town. In the eighteenth century, however, the options were quite a bit less, and so an enterprising fellow with a rhinoceros might be able to make an impression. In the case of Douwemout Van der Meer, and his rhinoceros Clara, he not only made an impression all over Europe, he substantially changed the science and art of the time, and he made a fortune. A curious book, _Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth Century Europe_ (Atlantic Monthly Press) by Glynis Ridley now tells the story, an odd one about a strange and distant time, and about a strange endeavor. There are gaps in the story, because Van der Meer did not keep a journal, but Ridley has also included diverting details about the cities Clara visits and the people she meets. The result is an engaging history, and one more valuable look at how humans get along with animals.
Clara's mother was shot when Clara was but a few months old in India, and the sea captain Van der Meer purchased her, thinking that she would make his fortune. He sailed with her back to his home in Holland, and with Clara safely transported, he left the Dutch East India Company to get on with what would be his real career. He was an ingenious showman, who used many techniques that would be familiar in modern spectacles. He had posters printed up beforehand to announce Clara's arrival, and would sell copies of the poster to anyone who paid to see her. There were also more elaborate or detailed pictures for the better-off to buy, ranging from woodcuts to engravings to commemorative medals in tin or silver. Clara seems to have been cared for with genuine affection. She lived on hay and grass (150 pounds a day), with bread and beer being special treats. She was attracted to the smell of tobacco, and could be easily led by the temptation of an orange.
Clara toured throughout Europe starting in 1741, with various home visits to Leiden, and died on tour in London in 1758. At her death, she probably became the subject of anatomists, and Van der Meer went back home. Significantly, there are no written records of him after Clara's death. It is to be assumed that he retired on his profits. He and Clara had accomplished a good deal more than just making money, however, as this happy and enthralling narrative make clear. They were making an appeal to popular curiosity, which is an amiable enough trait, and they satisfied it, but they also satisfied the artists and naturalists who came to check her out. They had expanded human knowledge, making the rhinoceros so well known that Boswell could report in agreement that someone had said that Dr. Johnson "laughs like a rhinoceros," and could count on people being amused at the simile. Ridley's book happily lets us rejoin in the enlightenment which Clara brought.
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