The extraordinary life story of the world's most famous elephant-from his capture in Africa to his untimely demise in Canada.

Billed as "the largest elephant ever to have lived," Jumbo was an animal superstar from the Victorian era. His celebrity was such that we now use his name to describe any outsized object. But Jumbo's fortune was mixed.

Born in the wilds of Sudan in 1861, Jumbo was captured at the age of one and sold first to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and later to the London Zoo. Neglected and in ill health, he was put under the care of junior zookeeper Matthew Scott, who nursed Jumbo back to health. It is through access to this keeper's journals that author Paul Chambers is able to recount in this book Jumbo's antics-he amused the crowds by stealing people's hats and conducting the zoo's brass band.

These stunts made him famous, as did his height of 12 feet and weight of 6.5 tons. In 1882, Jumbo and Scott were acquired by the Barnum circus in the United States and became even more popular there than in the U.K. But tragedy struck in 1885 when Jumbo was hit and killed by a train after a performance in Ontario. Original and entertaining, Jumbo is both a fascinating story of an amazing elephant and a revealing look at the Victorian attitude toward animals and the origins of our own obsession with zoos and circuses.

Paul Chambers's writing credits include books on subjects as diverse as dinosaurs, the natural history of the giant tortoise, medieval genealogy, and an eighteenth-century scandal, which formed the basis for his novel The Cock Lane Ghost. He lives in southern England.

Paul Chambers' profile page

"One of the great strengths of Paul Chambers' slightly Gothic book is that its author has no axe to grind. He presents his meticulously researched material with no editorializing and lets us make up our minds...the lessons of the story -- of this sad, simple requiem for a heavyweight -- cannot be amplified loudly enough."

Globe & Mail

"A thrilling, meticulously researched biography of the Barnum & Bailey superstar-Jumbo. While this legendary pachyderm lived only about a third of an African elephant's normal lifetime, his impact is still felt today...He had been with the circus only four years when a tragic mishap ended his life, but not the public's enchantment with him. A delight for elephant fans, circus-goers, and zoo-goers of all ages; highly recommended."

Library Journal

"Paul Chambers explores the sad but remarkable life of the most famous circus elephant ever in his fascinating, carefully researched account Jumbo: The Greatest Elephant in the World...[In London, Jumbo] found love -- albeit in a rather obsessive form -- when he was placed in the care of Matthew Scott, a rustic zoo worker with an almost mystic feel for animals. ...In 1885... [when] Jumbo was hit by a freight train and killed, Scott threw himself on the body and sobbed inconsolably for hours. It was the end of one of the oddest and yet also most haunting love stories of its time."

Christian Science Monitor