annieb123
Written on Feb 16, 2020
Beautiful Sheep is an introduction with a short history and a gallery showing the variation and beauty of different breeds of sheep. Originally published in the UK in 2008 this re-format and re-release is due out 3rd March 2020 from Quarto on their Ivy Press imprint, it's 112 pages and will be available in paperback format. All of the books in this series follow the same format and are all well done and attractive.
The authors have an accessible and informative style. The book has a good introduction with some history, uses, rare breeds, development of breed standards, and a very short capsule intro to shows. The intros are followed by a gallery listing of 40 sheep (some duplicate breeds, such as the Border Leicester), with a full color detail photo, breed intro with features, uses, related breeds, size/weight, and range/origin. The picture content also helpfully includes the age and sex of the subject (including reproductive status/castration). The end of the book contains some sepia-tone photos from specific show entry winners, along with an index and solid links lists for further reading.
Honestly the completeness of the bibliography and links are probably worth the cost of the book by themselves. Very well done. This would be a very good choice for a 4H or FFA intro to selecting and showing sheep or at least starting the necessary pre-purchase research. There is no animal husbandry content included here, this is a compendium of show quality healthy beautiful sheep in show condition.
A useful and appealing book and a good introduction to the conformation and looks of standard purebred sheep.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.