In 1892, in the town of Meaford, Ontario, Margaret Marshall Saunders was introduced to Beautiful Joe -a mongrel dog that had been cruelly mutilated by its owner. The author was inspired to write this true story to emphasize the plight of domestic animals everywhere. Upon publication, Beautiful Joe quickly became a Canadian classic, enchanting readers of all ages. Although Margaret Saunders relocated Beautiful Joe to a fictional town in Maine, readers know the story is actually based in Meaford, where a park and monument have been dedicated to the dog's memory.

One of the first animal viewpoint novels published in the United States, Margaret Marshall Saunders's Beautiful Joe (1894) tells the story of an abused dog and his rescue by a humane family. A catalogue of animal rights and wrongs, the novel fuelled humane sentiments worldwide. This annotated, illustrated edition draws on archival collections to trace the novel's impact on the nineteenth-century animal protection movement. The introduction also highlights some of the key social issues surrounding the substantive revisions and omissions in ensuing editions of the text. The historical appendices place the now-obscure novel in its rich milieu as an international bestseller that taught a generation of children to practice kindness towards animals.