Bookreview by Michael Rosser

Author Nick Waters’ experience and knowledge of dog art and antiques is coupled with a real interest in people and historical perspectives. Add tenacious research and literally years of writing. The result is this definitive and beautiful book, described by the publishers as “a once in a lifetime publication on the French Bulldog” – and indeed it is.

Nick Waters was a specialist antique dealer for many years. He regularly writes his The Dog in Art column for the USA Dog News and the UK weekly Dog World. On 24 December 2009 he published his 500th(!) column. (Significantly that milestone article was about the 3½” tall French Bulldog from Fabergé, carved from petrified wood and with diamonds and gold. The book has a full color plate picture and text about this beautiful Fabergé Frenchie in the chapter ‘All that Glistens’).

Nick also wrote the UK The Kennel Club’s Art Collection Catalogue for the club’s new art gallery when it opened in September 2003. (The catalogue was a fully illustrated catalogue of the Kennel Club’s entire collection and a collector’s item in itself.)

At the start of The French Bulldog Heritage and Art the author makes plain “The French Bulldog Heritage and Art does not attempt to feature all the many roles the breed has played over the years, or be a complete listing of every picture painted, every artifact ever made, or all the characters both human and canine who have molded the breed. Such a task would not only have been impossible but would have spoilt the thrill of discovery for every French Bulldog enthusiast.”

The opening chapter ‘From Candle Light to Red Lights and Chandeliers’ provides an entertaining history of the breed, with quotes (some of which even the most ardent Frenchie enthusiast would not have seen before) and quality illustrations which appear throughout the whole book.

There follows ‘The American Dream’, an entertaining description of the early days of the American French Bulldog fanciers, full of interest and detail.

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