Blue Imperial rabbit
The Blue Imperial rabbit was an English breed of domestic rabbit that is now extinct. It was originally bred by Mabel Illingworth, who was the first woman to create a rabbit breed. It was used to create several modern breeds, including the American rabbit.
Name
The proper name for the breed was the "Blue Imperial". It was sometimes interchangeably called "Imperial Blue", or even shortened to "Imperial", in the United States, but this is contrary to the original name.History
Beginning in 1896, Mabel Illingworth began the process of creating the Blue Imperial. The inspiration for the breed came from the blue-colored cats her mother raised. For many years, Miss Illingworth was secretive about the origins of her breed, but she finally divulged her method in the mid-1920s. She first bred a Blue and a Tortoiseshell English Lop, then bred the resulting litter to a White Angora. This was an old method of revealing what dominant color the rabbits had behind them. In the second generation, self-blues appeared with long, but erect ears. These were bred to a heavily marked blue-fawn Dutch buck, as well as a self-blue Dutch buck. Other breedings improved the color. Illingworth first exhibited the rabbits at a rabbit show at the Crystal Palace in London in 1903.A doe appeared in the second year of experimentation that featured ideal type and color according to Illingworth's specifications. It was named "Blue Pussie" after Illingworth's mother's cats that had inspired the breed. This rabbit was used extensively in the breeding program to fix the desired traits. The breed was shipped to America before 1915 and recognized by the National Pet Stock Association. Blue Imperials were rare and never popular in America; they disappeared from standards by 1934 and became extinct there and in England shortly thereafter.