HOUNDS: HUNTING BY SCENT. By David Hancock.

2014 1st edition. 4to (195 x 252mm). Pp240. Colour and b/w photographs and illustrations, bibliography. Black boards, spine titled in gilt.

This is a book for all those who admire the most endearing of sporting dogs, the scenthounds, the enthusiastic canine companions of the sportsmen who are thrilled by seeing a pack of hounds in full cry - watching these exceptional canine athletes exercising their delight in pursuing scent, whether real or artificial. Painstakingly researched and packed with information, this book covers both the well-known recognized breeds and the more obscure ones from overseas, some quite unknown to the British public. This is not a manual covering training, grooming, nutrition and dog care; it is very much a celebration of the hound's contribution to the sporting and companion dog scene, and an examination of their past, their peformance and their prospects in an increasingly urban society. This is the fourth volume of David's quartet on sporting dogs following: Sporting Terriers (2011), Sighthounds (2012) and Gundogs (2013). Chapters include: The scenthound provenance; The specialists; Hounds abroad; The future; Conserving our hounds; The anatomy of the hound.