Roosevelt, Theodore

African Game Trails: An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Naturalist, Volume II [2]

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920. Roosevelt, Theodore; Roosevelt, Kermit; Heller, Edmund; Goodwin, Philip R. Reissue. Hard Cover. Very Good / No Jacket. Item #2333051

Reissue, volume 2 of 2. Light spots on top edge.

vi, [2], 329-676 pp. Dark green cloth, gilt titles, blind-stamped borders and TR emblem on front board. Illustrations from photographs by Theodore Roosevelt and Edmund Heller, and from drawings by Philip R. Goodwin. "In March 1909, shortly after the end of his presidency, Roosevelt left New York for a safari in east and central Africa. Roosevelt's party landed in Mombasa, British East Africa (now Kenya), traveled to the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) before following the Nile up to Khartoum in modern Sudan. Financed by Andrew Carnegie and by his own proposed writings, Roosevelt's party hunted for specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The group included scientists from the Smithsonian and was led by the legendary hunter-tracker R.J. Cunninghame and was joined from time to time by Frederick Selous, the famous big game hunter and explorer. Among other items, Roosevelt brought with him four tons of salt for preserving animal hides, a lucky rabbit's foot given to him by boxer John L. Sullivan, an elephant-rifle donated by a group of 56 admiring Britons, and the famous Pigskin Library, a collection of classics bound in pig leather and transported in a single reinforced trunk. All told, Roosevelt and his companions killed or trapped over 11,397 animals, from insects and moles to hippopotamuses and elephants. These included 512 big game animals, including six rare white rhinos. The expedition consumed 262 of the animals. Tons of salted animals and their skins were shipped to Washington; the quantity was so large that it took years to mount them all, and the Smithsonian was able to share many duplicate animals with other museums."

Price: $25.00