A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa: Being a Narrative of Nine Years Spent Amongst the Game of the Far Interior of South Africa: Containing Accounts of Explorations Beyond the Zambesi, on the River Chobe, and in the Matabele and Mashuna Countries, with Full Notes Upon the Natural History and Present Distribution of all the Large Mammalia de Selous, Frederick Courteney - 1907

London: MacMillan and Co.. Very Good+. 1907. Fifth Edition. Hardcover. Extra Crown Octavo, pp xix, 504. Frontispiece of African Hunting Scene, 7 plates of African Antelopes, 9 full page illustrations of African Hunting Scenes, 2 other full page illustrations, 5 illustrations in the text, 1 fold-out map, index. Bound in publisher's original brown cloth with gilt spine titles and one gilt antelope head on front board, gilded top page edges. Spine slightly slanted and gently bumped on both ends, bottom corners gently bumped, covers lightly soiled. The first and most important book by the most famous of all the African Big Game Hunters. This is one of the most reprinted and most desirable of all African hunting books. Selous arrived in Africa from London in 1871 at the age of 19 and became a professional elephant hunter. This book is a record of his first 9 years hunting in Africa, in what today is South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi. The 7 plates of antelopes were drawn by the artist J Smit from actual specimens in Selous' possession. The plates form a complete series of antelopes, representing every species that can be found from the Limpopo north to 12 degrees south latitude. The 10 full page illustrations of hunting scenes (including the frontispiece) were drawn by Selous' sister and turned into wood engravings by Edward Whymper, the professional illustrator and mountaineer who was most famous for being the first to ascend the Matterhorn in 1865. Over the course of his lifetime Selous befriended Theodore Roosevelt and Cecil Rhodes. He was a member of the Boone & Crockett Club, was awarded the Founders Medal by the Royal Geographical Society, and sent 5,000 specimens to the British Museum of Natural History, which honored him with a bust in their main hall. The largest Game Reserve in Africa is named in his honor, Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania. This book has game lists kept during two of Selous' hunting expeditions, copied from his game book that he kept carefully from day to day. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 504 pages .