Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe.

CLARA'S GRAND TOUR: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe GLYNIS RIDLEY

For nearly 20 years in the mid-1700s, a 3-ton Indian rhino named Clara traveled Europe--from Rotterdam to Breslau, Naples, Marseilles, and many places in between. Making this an even more amazing achievement is that it happened before railways and modern roads existed. Clara, orphaned when she was only months old, was hand raised by a Dutch merchant in Assam, India. When she was 3 years old, a Dutch sea captain brought her to Europe. There, she became a sensation. In one of the first marketing campaigns of all time, her owner promoted Clara's appearances to peasants and royalty alike. Both came to see her. There were Clara product tie-ins galore: poems, songs, fashions, portraits, etchings, and bronze figurines. Her image adorned everything from tin coins to fine porcelain, and a fortune for the Dutch captain. Ridley, a first-time author, is a professor of 18th-century studies, and as such discusses not just Clara's travels but also diverse subjects including early publishing and the long-term effects of Hannibal's invasion of Italy. This book should please anyone interested in the history of the 18th century or of marketing. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005, 224 p., b&w illus., hardcover, $21.00.