Gerald Durrell – A Zoo in My Luggage – First UK Edition, Third Impression, 1961

Author: Gerald Durrell
Title: A Zoo in My Luggage
Publisher: Rupert Hart-Davis, London
Date: 1961
Edition: First UK edition, third impression
Format: Octavo
Illustrations: 41 illustrations by Ralph Thompson
Catalogue Number: 004162

A Zoo in My Luggage is one of Gerald Durrell’s most characteristic and enduring books, combining natural history, travel and autobiography with the humour for which he became so widely admired.

The book recounts Durrell’s 1957 expedition to the British Cameroons, undertaken to collect animals for a zoological collection. Much of its appeal lies in Durrell’s descriptions not only of the animals themselves, but of the practical difficulties involved in housing, feeding, managing and eventually transporting a diverse living collection.

The expedition belongs to an important period in Durrell’s career, when his ideas about animal keeping and conservation were developing towards the work that would later define his reputation. As such, the book has interest both as an entertaining travel narrative and as part of the broader story of Durrell’s development as a zoologist and conservationist.

The volume is illustrated throughout with 41 drawings by Ralph Thompson.

Condition

Binding tight and firm. Pages nice and clean. A near fine copy in the original near fine dustwrapper, priced 16s net. The wrapper shows only slight creasing, fading and rubbing and is now protected in an easily removable clear archival sleeve.

A notably attractive early printing of one of Durrell’s most popular books.

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