Kerr, J.G. — The Naturalist in The Gran Chaco

Cambridge University Press xi,235, 24 b/w plates, 2 maps (one folding). . HB. Vg in d/w (short tears, with loss to top of front wrapper).. Extracts from the diary of Sir John Graham Kerr concerning his two famous expeditions to the Gran Chaco. The Gran Chaco is a hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, which includes eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. The first part of the book concerns the Pilcomayo Expedition of 1889-91, which started from Buenos Aires, navigating the rivers Parana, Paraguay and Bermejo. The second part records the Lepidosiren Expedition of 1896-7, when the author returned to South America with J.S. Budgett. The wrapper notes that a reader of a proof-copy of this work stated ‘This is the best book about South America since Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle’..