Animals Birds Dinos
From the time they lived on the island of Corfu, Gerald Durrell's family hoped he'd outgrow his love of animals. Instead he became a zoologist and worldwide conservation hero.
In 1945, young zoologist, Gerald Durrell, finally came to work at his first actual zoo; Whipsnade Zoo--then a new concept in open-range animal exhibits--where Durrell joined in as a student keeper with Albert the lion, Babs the polar bear, and a baby deer among his first charges. In this entertaining history, he recaptures all the passion that permeated those early years, while conveying his insight into and affection for four-footed creatures. The book is full of larger-than-life animal characters: the bear who sang operatic arias with one paw clasped to his breast, his bosom friend Billy the goat, playful zebras, and a host of equally endearing and memorable critters. This is Durrell at his best. Fans of the PBS Masterpiece series, The Durrells in Corfu, know Gerald Durrell as a young boy with endless curiosity about animals. This is where that interest led. Durrell's great life work, the Wildlife Preservation Trust International, was still ahead in his future. Beasts in My Belfry is a wonderfully entertaining memoir for anyone who loves animals and a life lived with great purpose.
Anglers and flytiers have been after Harry Darbee for years to write a book—a book, one of them requested, "full of memories and hopes, stories and trout talk, with some-thing of that hallowed mist that hovers around the Willowemoc and the Beaverkill." Finally, here it is! Not only does Darbee evoke the full cast of characters who earned for his native rivers their reputation as the cradle of American fly fishing, he also reveals the tricks and techniques that have made him and his wife, Elsie, two of the world's greatest flytiers. In Catskill Flytier, we meet Herman Christian, Edward R. Hewitt, and Roy Steenrod, who passed on the teachings of the legendary Theodore Gordon; the other pros who made their livelihood as flytiers in the Catskill style; the millionaire fishing-club members who became Darbee customers; the poachers who came by night—and some in broad daylight—to take the big trout out of the club waters; the conservationists who fought and are fighting to save the fish.
Signed first edition in DJ protector; dj has some chips along top and bottom edges; light soiling; brown cloth over tan boards; front endpapers lightly foxed; text clean; binding tight. VG/G
Gentle Giants: A Book of Newfoundlands is Bruce Weber's loving 1994 tribute to his beloved "Rowdy," the breed itself, and the owners that love them. If you own a Newf, or more aptly are or were owned by one of these saliva slinging bears, this book is for you. Impeccably designed and printed in gravure, it includes text by the author-photographer, the original poem "A Newfound Prayer" by Patti Smith, and brief quotes from Eugene O'Neill, Carl Sandburg, Will James, Zane Grey, Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, and Joseph Conrad.
Bulfinch Press, 1994. 1st edition. Photo-illustrated boards with blue cloth spine; spine lightly faded; binding sound; text and photos clean and bright. VG
One of the New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of the Year
One of Slate's 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Last 25 Years
ON MORE THAN 25 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR LISTS: including TIME (#1 Nonfiction Book), NPR, O, The Oprah Magazine (10 Favorite Books), Vogue (Top 10), Vanity Fair, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle (Top 10), Miami Herald, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top 10), Library Journal (Top 10), Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Slate, Shelf Awareness, Book Riot, Amazon (Top 20)
The instant New York Times bestseller and award-winning sensation, Helen Macdonald's story of adopting and raising one of nature's most vicious predators has soared into the hearts of millions of readers worldwide. Fierce and feral, her goshawk Mabel's temperament mirrors Helen's own state of grief after her father's death, and together raptor and human "discover the pain and beauty of being alive" (People). H Is for Hawk is a genre-defying debut from one of our most unique and transcendent voices.
Fourteen short stories capture the quirky and peculiar behavior of horses, both good and ornery. You'll meet buckers, tricksters, and trusted partners: Bearcat is not just a plain crazy hardheaded bucker...but a wise, coolheaded cross between a whirlwind and a ton of brick, Joker is full of old nick and plenty of snorts, and Little Eagle is the seeing eye for a blind cowboy. First published in 1940, Horses I Have Known contains some of Will James' most acclaimed short stories.
World Publishing; Forum Books Edition, 1st printing, 1945; dj protected; top and bottom of spine chipped; top edge chipped; covers lightly soiled and tanned; red cloth with black lettering; water damage to bottom of spine and spine edges of covers; the red color from cloth binding has stained inside bottom of spine of dust jacket; binding good; text clean; illustrated by author. G/G
Living on the Wind is a magisterial work of nature writing from author Scott Weidensaul.
Bird migration is the world's only true unifying natural phenomenon, stitching the continents together in a way that even the great weather systems fail to do. Scott Weidensaul follows awesome kettles of hawks over the Mexican coastal plains, bar-tailed godwits that hitchhike on gale winds 7,000 miles nonstop across the Pacific from Alaska to New Zealand, and myriad songbirds whose numbers have dwindled so dramatically in recent decades. Migration paths form an elaborate global web that shows serious signs of fraying, and Weidensaul delves into the tragedies of habitat degradation and deforestation with an urgency that brings to life the vast problems these miraculous migrants now face.
Everything you ever wanted to know about owls, from behavior to history and mythology, all written in the author's engaging and accessible style. With gorgeous illustrations by Leonard Baskin, this 1st edition volume is a very special gift for any fan of these nocturnal birds of prey.
Dust jacket in protective cover; price clipped; one small tear at bottom of front cover; lightly soiled; white cloth over blue boards; spine very lightly foxed; front cover has embossed illustration of owl; illustrated endpapers; binding tight; text clean and bright. G+/G+