The marrying of two writing styles can never
be easy, and Mrs Speding’s admitted
reverence for the original work and its author
did little to alleviate the obvious difficulties.
In the end a rather awkward alliance emerged
between the original instructions which
preceded more modern theory, further the
CC winners’ appendix, which had been
truncated to Champions only in the ninth
edition, was further curtailed to Champions
gaining their title during the preceding
25 years.
Difficulties of third party revision could not
have been confined to the Collie, and as most of the titles now found themselves in a similar position this must have been obvious to the publisher’s who decided to withdraw the series before the end of the decade. For all that the ‘The Popular Breed Series’ remains unique in that many of its titles, including ‘The Collie’, remained in print for thirty years, and the books continue to be acclaimed as the most important post-war contribution to furthering the education of fanciers in many breeds. So popular were these books that it is still possible to find a representative selection of edition copies at very reasonable prices if one searches any of the online book catalogues. As far as ‘The Collie’ is concerned I strongly recommend either the 7th or 8th editions providing one remembers that the advice on health, rearing and welfare is more than thirty years out of date.
