4.5 stars.

I didn't know there were this many types of pigs. I was shocked to see some of the rare ones because they looked really weird.

The book consists of an introduction, the different types with their origin and lastly some pictures from the competitions.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

A lovely book of pigs sounds funny but these pigs will steal your heart.All types of pigs each photo will draw you n charm you .A pleasure to sit down and enjoy this book,#netgalley#quarto.

Beautiful Pigs: Portraits of champion breeds is an introduction with a short history and a gallery showing the variation and beauty of different breeds of pigs. Originally published in the UK in 2009 this re-format and re-release is due out 3rd March 2020 from Quarto on their Ivy Press imprint, it's 112 pages and will be available in paperback format. All of the books in this series follow the same format and are all well done and attractive.

The authors have an accessible and informative style. The book has a good introduction with some historic breeds, champion breeds, and exotic breeds, development of breed standards, and a very short capsule intro to shows. The intros are followed by a gallery listing of 40 swine, with a full color detail photo, breed intro with features, uses, related breeds, size/weight, and range/origin. The picture content also helpfully includes the sex of the subject. The end of the book contains some sepia-tone photos from specific show entry winners, along with an index and solid links lists for further reading.

Honestly the completeness of the bibliography and links are probably worth the cost of the book by themselves. Very well done. This would be a very good choice for a 4H or FFA intro to selecting and showing or at least starting the necessary pre-purchase research. There is no animal husbandry content included here, this is a compendium of show quality healthy beautiful swine in show condition.

A useful and appealing book and a good introduction to the conformation and looks of standard purebred pigs.

Four stars.

I absolutely loved this book. The portraits are gorgeous and the facts about the breeds, and pigs in general, were fun. Highly recommended for any animal lover!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book gives a short history of pigs and showing and caring for them. Then the book goes into different breeds of pigs, dividing the chapters into historic, champion, and exotic breeds with brief descriptions of each. Similar to the book Beautiful Sheep and Beautiful Goats, although the other animals at least looked healthier than the pigs.

I grew up with potbelly pigs and someday hope to have another because they were so much fun to have around. Reading this book was fun and I enjoyed looking at the pictures.

I grew up with potbelly pigs and even had one live in the house for about a year (until she got too big and broke the litterbox haha). I really enjoyed looking at the photos and reading about this different pig breeds, especially the historic breeds, most of which I'd never heard of.

I love animals so this was right up my alley. I love the photos and the information on each breed of pig.

Although it was fascinating learning about various pig breeds and such, quite a few the pigs didn't loook too healthy and well taken care of.

The book portrays 42 breeds of pigs, separated in 3 categories: historic breeds, champion breeds, and exotic breeds. Each portray is paired with a description explaining their features, use, related breed, size, origin and distribution.

Unlike [book:Beautiful Sheep: Portraits of champion breeds|48614662] from the same collection, the pigs do not look as healthy and well taken care of, especially the "exotic" breeds. The Blonde Mangalista has some horrible matted hair around her face all the way to her ear, which must be so painful to live with. The Red Mangalista has some ingrown tooth coming from her mouth that have not been shorten, and her coat look dry and skin unhealthy. The White Vietnamese Potbellied looks even more miserable, with short and sparse air, dry skin and a very long ingrown tooth. Poor pigs!

I don't understand how those pigs with obvious sign of lack of care from their owner where photographed and showed in this book without anyone blinking an eye.

The first part of the book includes a history of pigs, the development of breeds, how to best prepare for a show and how to care for pigs. The last part of the book is supposed to be a reportage, but it was just a low-quality collage in sepia and black and white of photos from a pig show. I was expecting some description, some interview or some funny anecdote. In this form, it didn't seem necessary or useful.

Overall, I was very disappointed in this book and would not recommend it.

*Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*