Following on from my articles on the Arrival and domestication of the rat, I penned this series of articles on the early history of the rat Fancy. These were first published in Prorata in 2020 and 2021.
Most of the source material came from early Fur and Feather magazines and were written at the time.
Other resources were ‘The Rat, It’s history and destructive character’ by James Rodwell for its invaluable information on the early arrival of rats into the pet market and ‘Studies of Inheritance in Guinea Pigs and Rats’ by Castle and Wright, for the information on early genetics.
Much of the information on here was new to the modern rat fancy when first published and corrects some earlier misunderstandings.