Antiquarian Big-Game Hunting Books Worth Reading and Collecting
Ludo J. Wurfbain
AFRICA
Old Elephant Hunting Classics
I have chosen here only those titles that contain primarily elephant hunting or the history of the ivory quest. Many authors—and Frederick Selous comes to mind—have shot a great deal of elephants but their books are not necessarily primarily devoted to the elephant.
| Anderson | 1946 | African Safaris |
| Andersson | 1873 | The Lion and the Elephant |
| Bell | 1923 | The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter |
| Bell | 1949 | Karamojo Safari |
| Blunt | 1933 | Elephany |
| Bula N'Zau (Bailey) | 1894 | Travel and Adventure in the Congo Free State |
| Faulkner | 1868 | Elephant Haunts |
| Finaughty | 1916 | The Recollections of William Finaughty |
| Lyell | 1924 | The African Elephant and Its Hunters |
| Moore | 1931 | Ivory: Scourge of Africa (ivory & trade) |
| Neumann | 1898 | Elephant-Hunting in East Equatorial Africa |
| Stanley & Hodgson | 1912 | Elephant Hunting in West Africa |
| Stigand | 1913 | Hunting the Elephant in Africa |
| Sutherland | 1912 | Adventures of an Elephant Hunter |
Modern Elephant Hunting Classics
These are equally as good as the elephant books listed above; however, they do not bring as high a price in the after-market because all were published after WW II and are not truly rare.
| Bell | Incidents from an Elephant Hunter's Diary |
| Everett | Heath, Thirst and Ivory |
| Foran | Elephant Hunters of the Lado |
| Irwin | Memories of an African Hunter |
| Manners | Kambuku |
| Nyschen | Months of the Sun |
| Pardal | Elephant Hunting in Portuguese East Africa |
| Rushy | No More the Tusker |
| Sanchez | Ivory, later issued as On the Trail of the African Elephant & finally as Elephants, Ivory & Hunters |
| Sanchez | Elephant Hunters, Men of Legend |
| Sanchez | Africa’s Greatest Tuskers |
| Taylor | Pondoro (partially on elephants) |
| Thomson | Mahoboh |
| Thomson | The Adventures of Shadrek |
Signed and Numbered (The Crown Jewels of Any Collection, Part 1)
| Bryden | The Great and Small Game of Africa |
| Potocki | Sport in Somaliland |
| Roosevelt | African Game Trails (2 volumes) |
| Stanley | In Darkest Africa (2 volumes) |
Hand-Colored Plates (The Crown Jewels of Any Collection, Part 2)
| Bryden | The Great and Small Game of Africa |
| Butler | South African Sketches |
| Bruchell | Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa |
| Daniell | African Scenery and Animals |
| Harris | Portraits of the Game |
| Harris | Wild Sports of Southern Africa |
| Sclater | The Book of the Antelopes |
Books by Rowland Ward Ltd. (The Crown Jewels of Any Collection, Part 3)
(excludes Records of Big Game)
| Bryden | The Great and Small Game of Africa |
| Kirby | Sport in East Central Africa |
| Neumann | Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa |
| Potocki | Sport in Somaliland |
| Powell Cotton | A Sporting Trip to Abyssinia |
| Selous | Travel and Adventure in Southeast Africa |
| Selous | Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia |
| Swayne | Seventeen Trips to Somaliland |
Sought-After and Collectible
| Anderson | African Safaris |
| Andersson | The Lion and the Elephant |
| Andersson | The Okavango River |
| Arkell Hardwick | An Ivory Trader in North Kenya |
| Churchill | My African Journey |
| Colburn | The African Diary of a Poor Shot |
| Colburn | The Unbelievable Game Country |
| Fitzpatrick | Jock of the Bushveld |
| Foran | Kill or Be Killed |
| Kirby | In Haunts of Wild Game |
| Lyell | Hunting Trips in Northern Rhodesia |
| Lyell | Wild Life in Central Africa |
| Millais | A Breath from the Veldt |
| Ogilvie-Grant et all | The Gun at Home and Abroad, 4 volumes |
| Powell Cotton | In Unknown Africa |
| Selous | A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa |
After WW II Classics
| Burger | Horned Death |
| Capstick | Death in the Long Grass |
| Hunter | Hunter |
| Ruark | Horn of the Hunter |
Harder to Find, Well Worth Collecting, Interesting to Read
| Boyes | The Company of Adventurers |
| Christy | Big Game and Pigmies |
| Foa | After Big Game in Central Africa |
| Kittenberger | Big Game Hunting and Collecting in Africa |
| Lyell | The Hunting and Spoor of Central African Game |
| Lyell | Hunting Trips in Northern Rhodesia |
| Lyell | Memories of an African Hunter |
| Lyell | Nyasaland for the Hunters and Settler |
| Lyell | Wildlife in Central Africa |
| Millais | The Life of F.C. Selous |
| Selous | African Nature Notes and Reminiscences |
| Stigand | The Game of British East Africa |
From Rare to Extremely Rare (and Expensive)
| Blackburne Maze | Journals of My African Travels |
| Cobb | Sport on Setit |
| Elton | Travels and Researches |
| Hughes | Eighteen Years on Lake Bangweuleu |
| Hunter | White Hunter |
| Melliss | Lion-Hunting in Somali-Land |
| Myers | Life with the Hamran Arabs |
| Pease | Sport and Travel in Africa (3-volume set) |
| Vanderbilt | Safari: Some Fun! Some Fun! |
| Vasse | Three Years' Sport in Mozambique |
Books by Professional Hunters
| Daly | Big Game Hunting and Adventure |
| Dyer | Classic African Animals |
| Herne | Tanzania Safaris |
| Herne | Uganda Safaris |
| Holman | Inside Safari Hunting |
| Hunter | Tales of the African Frontier |
| Hunter | White Hunter |
| Hurt | Hunting the Big Five |
| Ker | African Adventure |
| Percival | A Game Rangers Notebook |
| Percival | A Game Warden on Safari |
| Pitman | A Game Warden among His Charges |
The Early Hunters and/or Explorers
| Andersson | Lake Ngami |
| Andersson | The Okavango River |
| Baker | The Albert N’yanza, Great Basin of the Nile |
| Baker | The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia |
| Baker | The Lake Regions of Central Africa |
| Du Chailu | Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa |
| Gibbons | Exploration and Hunting in Central Africa |
| Grant | A Walk across Africa |
| Kerr | The Far Interior |
| Livingstone | Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa |
| Oswell | W.C. Oswell Hunter and Explorer |
| Smith | Through Unknown African Countries |
| Speke | Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile |
| Stanley | In Darkest Africa |
| Stanley | Through the Dark Continent |
| Stanley | The Congo and the Founding of the Free State |
| Thomson | Through Masai Land |
| Thomson | To the Central African Lakes and Back |
| Von Hohnel | Discovery of Lakes Rudolph and Stefanie |
AFRICA, ASIA, and the AMERICAS
Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game
No books can conjure up more endless dreams and deliver more raw desire then the original pre-WW II Records of Big Game as published by the London taxidermy firm of Rowland Ward. The early books had photos of the largest heads (both in the field and mounted), entries by many of the famous early hunters, and a charm that will never be recaptured in the modern age. The books published immediately after WW II had lost much of this allure till the 1980s when new energetic ownership once more made this series of books most desireable. The first edition was called Horn Measurements and Weights of the Great Game of the World. All subsequent editions carry the title Records of Big Game.
| 1st | 1892 | zebra striped cloth, gilt buffalo head on cover |
| 2nd | 1896 | cloth with depiction of tiger skin of maharaja of Cooch Behar |
| 3rd | 1899 | green cloth with gilt lettering |
| 4th | 1903 | dark blue cloth with gilt lettering |
| 5th | 1907 | red cloth with gilt lettering |
| 6th | 1910 | zebra stripped cloth with gilt lettering |
| 7th | 1914 | mustard yellow cloth with head of water buffalo |
| 8th | 1822 | wine red cloth with gilt lettering |
| 9th | 1828 | light blue cloth with gilt lettering |
| 10th | 1935 | brown cloth with gilt lettering |
Books by Theodore Roosevelt
The books listed below were written by Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States. We only list his hunting, military, and Western Americana narratives. In all, he wrote 35 books (more than any other president) as well as numerous booklets and speeches. In addition, his family, wife, sons, and other relatives wrote books, making the subject of “Roosevelt’s books” all the more interesting.
| Hunting Trips of A Ranchman | 1885, one of 500 numbered copies |
| Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail | 1888 |
| The Wilderness Hunter | 1893, one of 200 signed copies |
| Big Game Hunting in the Rockies and on the Great Plains (Comprising of Hunting Trips of a Ranchman and The Wilderness Hunter) | 1899, one of 1,000 signed copies |
| The Rough Riders | 1899 |
| Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter | 1905, one of 260 signed copies |
| African Game Trails | 1910, 2 volumes, one of 500 signed copies |
| Through the Brazilian Wilderness | 1914 |
| A Book-Lover's Holiday in the Open | 1916 |
| The Life Histories of African Game Animals | 1914 (with E. Heller) |
Hand-Colored Plates
(limited to 250 or 500 copies, all published by Rowland Ward Ltd.)
| Lydekker | Wild Oxen, Sheep, & Goats of All Lands |
| Lydekker | The Great and Small Game of India, Burma, & Tibet |
| Lydekker | The Great and Small Game of Europe & W & N Asia and America |
| Lydekker | The Deer of All Lands |
ASIA
Asian Classics and Rarities
Tiger Hunting and Other Forest Hunting
| Cooch Behar | Thirty-Seven Years of Big Game Shooting |
| Corbett | Jungle Stories |
| Corbett | Man-Eaters of Kumaon |
| Ingles | Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier |
| Peacock | A Game-Book for Burma & Adjoining Territories |
| Rice | Indian Game |
Sheep Hunting and Ibex Hunting
| Andrews | Camps and Trails in China |
| Andrews | Chapman across Mongolian Plains |
| Andrews | The New Conquest of Central Asia |
| Burrard | Big Game Hunting in the Himalayas and Tibet |
| Clark | Trails of the Hunted |
| Cobbold | Innermost Asia: Travel and Sport in the Pamirs |
| Darrah | Sport in the Highlands of Kashmir |
| Demidoff | A Shooting Trip to Kamchatka |
| Demidoff | After Wild Sheep in the Altai and Mongolia |
| Demidoff | Hunting Trips in the Caucasus |
| Etherton | Across the Roof of the World |
| Gates | Trophy Hunter in Asia |
| Haughton | Sport and Folklore in the Himalayan |
| Haydon | Sport and Travel in the Highlands of Tibet |
| Herbert | Casuals in the Caucasus |
| Jamsheed | Memories of a Sheep Hunter |
| Kinloch | Large Game Shooting in Thibet, the Himalayas, & Northern & Central India |
| Lydekker | Wild Oxen, Sheep and Goats of All Lands |
| MacIntyre | Hindu Koh |
| Morden | Across Asia's Snows and Deserts |
| Ronaldshay | Sport and Politics Under an Eastern Sky |
| Roosevelt | East of the Sun and West of the Moon |
| Stone | In and Beyond the Himalayas |
| Swayne | Through the Highlands of Siberia |
| Wallace | The Big Game of Central and Western China |
ASIA BEST
Hand-Colored Plates
All Lydekkers listed below are limited to 250 or 500 copies and are published by Rowland Ward.
| Lydekker | Wild Oxen, Sheep, & Goats of All Lands |
| Lydekker | The Great and Small Game of India, Burma, & Tibet |
| Lydekker | The Great and Small Game of Europe & Western & Northern Asia and America |
| Lydekker | The Deer of All Lands |
| Williamson | Oriental Field Sports |
NORTH AMERICA
Sheep Hunting
| Annabel | Hunting and Fishing in Alaska |
| Annabel | Tales of a Big Game Guide |
| Armstrong | After Big Game in the Upper Yukon |
| Auer | Campfires in the Yukon |
| Baillie-Grohman | Fifteen Years Sport & Life in the Hunting Grounds of Western America and British Columbia |
| Beach | In the Shadow of Mount McKinley |
| Cane | Summer and Fall in Western Alaska |
| Davy | Saga of the Rockies |
| Holman | Sheep and Bear Trails: A Hunters Wanderings in Alaska |
| Hornaday | Campfires in the Canadian Rockies |
| Housholder | The Grand Slam of North American Wild Sheep |
| Hubback | To Far Western Alaska for Big Game |
| McGuire | In the Alaska-Yukon Gamelands |
| O'Connor | Game in the Desert |
| O'Connor | Sheep and Sheep Hunting |
| Phillips-Woolley | Big Game Shooting |
| Radclyffe | Big Game Shooting in Alaska |
| Sheldon | The Wilderness of Denali |
| Sheldon | The Wilderness of the Upper Yukon |
| Williams | Game Trails in British Columbia |
| Young | Alaska Yukon Trophies Won and Lost |
Bear Classics
| Clark | Last of the Great Brown Bear Men |
| Eddy | Hunting the Alaska Brown Bear |
| Finton | Alaskan Bear Adventures |
| Hittell | The Adventures of James Capen Adams |
| Holman | Sheep and Bear Trails |
| Palmer | Kodiak Bear Hunt |
| Radclyffe | Big Game Shooting in Alaska |
| Sheldon | The Wilderness of the North Pacific Coast Islands |
| Woodworth | The Kodiak Bear |
| Young | Grizzlies Don't Come Easy! |
North American Rarities
| Francis | Sport among the Rockies |
| McAleenan | Hunting with Rifle and Camera in the Canadian Rockies |
| Williamson | Sport and Photography in the Rocky Mountains |