Akeley, Carl E. — In Brightest Africa

William Heinemann London xvii, [3], 267, b/w frontis, 62 b/w plates, text figs + maps. . HB. 8vo, orig. brown cloth, gilt. Light rubbing to extremities. Withdrawn from an institutional library with discreet ink stamps at beginning and end; small circular labels to spine. Also with the bookplate of Marguerite Doe [Ravenscroft] (1890-1972), the Californian philanthropist and animal-welfare campaigner.. First UK edition (first published by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1923). A classic account of African travel, big-game collecting and natural history by Carl Ethan Akeley (1864-1926), the influential American taxidermist, sculptor, naturalist and museum collector. Based on his expeditions in East and Central Africa, the work combines vivid descriptions of encounters with elephants, gorillas and other large mammals with observations on African wildlife, field collecting and the preparation of specimens.Akeley transformed modern museum taxidermy, developing techniques that allowed animals to be displayed with unprecedented anatomical accuracy and realism, and was largely responsible for the conception of the great African habitat groups at the American Museum of Natural History. His later work with mountain gorillas also contributed to growing concern for their protection and to the establishment of what became Virunga National Park. <i>In Brightest Africa</i> is therefore of interest not only as an African sporting and exploration narrative, but also as an important document in the history of natural history museums, taxidermy and early wildlife conservation..