Autobiography of Matthew Scott, Jumbo's Keeper; Also Jumbo's Biography, by the same Author

Autobiography of Matthew Scott, Jumbo's Keeper; Also Jumbo's Biography is a compact Victorian life narrative that joins personal memoir, animal biography, and popular spectacle. Its substance lies in the daily intimacies of keeping Jumbo, the celebrated African elephant, from zoological display to transatlantic circus fame. Written in plain, testimonial prose, it belongs to a nineteenth-century culture fascinated by exotic animals, sentimental companionship, and the moral drama of captivity. Matthew Scott was not a literary professional but a working animal keeper whose authority derived from proximity, patience, and care. As Jumbo's attendant at the London Zoological Gardens and later in Barnum's enterprise, Scott witnessed the transformation of an animal into an international celebrity. His account reflects the pride, dependence, and emotional attachment of a man whose identity became inseparable from the creature he served. Readers interested in Victorian popular culture, zoo history, circus studies, or human-animal relations will find this book unusually revealing. Its value is less in polished artistry than in firsthand testimony: a keeper's attempt to preserve Jumbo's memory and to dignify the labor, affection, and sorrow behind a famous public spectacle.