File NLW ex 2594. - 'Doggie' Hubbard letters

Clifford Lionel Barry ('Doggie') Hubbard, author and bookseller, was born in Clydach in 1913, but he spent his boyhood years in Aberaeron and Bath. After leaving school he worked for a year in the kennels of the Bath Dog Bureau. He spent a brief period doing heavy manual labour for charities in London and he made an unsuccessful attempt to emigrate by stowing away on board ship, before returning to work with dogs, first at the European Supreme Dog Bureau in Bayswater, then at kennels in Llanarth. Around that time he began to accumulate information on the care, breeding and history of dogs. For a period between 1951 and 1956, he and his family emigrated to Australia, where he was employed in the ordering department of a government printing office. During his stay he loaned his collection of books to the Commonwealth National Library of Australia and, upon his return, to the National Library of Wales for a short time.

During the 1960s Hubbard worked on orders in the book department of Harrods and spent his free time accumulating a substantial collection of his own. In 1972 he established the 'Doggie Hubbard Bookshop', which was situated in Buxton, Derbyshire, then from 1981, in Ponterwyd, Ceredigion. He was an acknowledged expert on antiquarian and other dog books, and his collection comprised many thousands of volumes, both in English and in other languages. His own writings consisted of books on various canine subjects, including the earliest editions of The Observer's Book of Dogs, and articles for journals such as Dog World, Our Dogs and the Kennel Gazette, often using the pseudonym 'Canis'. Some of his early articles were on non-canine subjects, published in the Southampton Star under the pen-name 'Barry Fraser.' He was also editor of the Dog Lover's Library series, based at Grosvenor House in Aberystwyth, during the 1950s and Kennel Editor for the Kensington News. Other activities included travelling to dog shows with his book stall, broadcasting on radio and television, lecturing, serving on the committees of the local Sea Cadets and Aberystwyth Carnival, and participating in a busy family life. He died in June 2000 and was buried at Aberaeron.