Historical fiction writers may want to known how cock-fighting was done, in places such as Cock’s Yard in the old days of Burslem. New at the Hathi Trust, there’s a free scan of a book that lays out the whole thing: The art of cockfighting; a handbook for beginners and old timers.

Ugly and cruel, but a part of that bygone Victorian past that a writer might hang a novel, a play or a graphic novel on.