The Overloaded Ark. With Illustrations By Sabine Baur. Durrell, Gerald M. Varia

Fourth impression. 14.5 x 22cm. 238 pages, with maps and line-drawn illustrations. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective collector's mylar. Excellent condition, other than minor signs of wear to dustjacket including small tear to spine, edges very slightly foxed. Previous owner's name on front free endpaper. Includes for example the following chapters: Part One - Eshobi: The Forest By Day / Smoke and Small Beef / The Forest By Night / The Fossil that Bites / Drills, Dances and Drums Part Two - Bakebe and Beyond: Snakes and Sunbirds / Artocebus Ahoy / N'da Ali / Cholmondeley and Others / The Village in the Lake The Overloaded Ark, first published in 1953, is the debut book by British naturalist Gerald Durrell. It is the chronicle of a six months collecting trip to the West African colony of British Cameroon - now Cameroon - (Dec 1947 - Aug 1948) - that Durrell made with the highly regarded aviculturist and ornithologist John Yealland. Their reasons for going on the trip were twofold: "to collect and bring back alive some of the fascinating animals, birds, and reptiles that inhabit the region," and secondly, for both men to realise a long cherished dream to see Africa. Its combination of comic exaggeration and environmental accuracy, portrayed in Durrell's light, clever prose, made it a great success. It launched Durrell's career as a writer of both non-fiction and fiction, which in turn financed his work as a zookeeper and conservationist. [wikipedia] Sprache: english.