The Wild Life of India by E. P. [Edward Prichard] Gee lands on the shelves of my shop, where it will be found in my Natural History section.
London: Collins, 1965, Hardback in dust wrapper.
3rd impression. [First Edition: 1964] Contains: Black & white photographs; Colour photographs; Glossary; Appendices [3];
From the cover: Some of the noblest and most beautiful animals in the world are to be found in India. But they are unlikely to survive outside the pages of Kipling and the memoirs of big-game hunters unless something is done quickly to save them.
Mr. E. P. Gee has spent half a life-time studying and photographing animals and birds in India ; recently a newly discovered species of golden langur was named after him by an Officer of the Zoological Survey of India. He has sat in the open within ten feet of a lion in the Gir Forest, has fallen in front of a charging rhinoceros and he has a strange tale to tell of a bird mystery in Assam; but although it is full of good stories this is not a book of daring deeds. It is a unique panorama of the wild life resources of India her sanctuaries, the animals which inhabit them and the men who have done most to preserve them. Still surviving are the Indian elephant and, more precariously the lion ; leopards and tigers, including the white tigers of Rewa with their icy-blue eyes; dancing deer on their floating sanctuary in Manipur and the pelicans of Andhra feeding their young. On the other hand it comes as a shock to find how many species including the Kashmir stag and the great Indian bustard are close to extinction, and how others such as the cheetah and the pinkheaded duck have been wiped out in recent years.
For anyone interested in wild life or the natural resources of India this is an enthralling and informative book; for the animals themselves it may make all the difference between extermination and survival.
Introduction by: Jawaharlal Nehru
Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper, pulled at the head of the upper panel and slightly frayed at the head of the spine. Text complete, clean and tight.
Green boards with Gilt on Black Title Plate titling to the Spine. 192 pages. Index. Bibliography. 9″ x 6″.
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