Pondoro Last of the Ivory Hunters - John Taylor

Extremely Rare first UK edition still in its original dust jacket.

Pondoro Last of the Ivory Hunters - John Taylor

(John 'Pondoro' Taylor is the same Author who wrote the Classic, "African Rifles & Cartridges" published in 1948.)

Published: Frederick Muller, London

1956- first UK edition in original dust jacket

Edition: First Edition

Publisher's green hardcover binding with gilt titles to spine. Illustrated dust jacket.

275pp. Illustrated.

Binding tight. Contents clean. Dust jacket in good condition with some age-associated wear along the edges. Age related spotting and browning of the book block. Original price intact.

' "Pondoro" means "lion" in Chinyungwe. It was the natives' name for John Taylor when he first began to hunt in Africa, on the lower Zambesi. Actually it is a shortening of the more formal title Chimpondoro, meaning "the lion-like one" or "the roaring of the lion".

For more than thirty years Taylor - Pondoro - has been a professional hunter, often out of touch with civilization for as long as three and four years at a time. "I did not learn of World War II," he says, "till some of my men went in for provisions and brought back tea and salt wrapped in old newspapers. Where I am there is no radio and I never see another white man."

His background for all this was rather unlikely. John Taylor was born in Dublin, son of Sir William Taylor, K.B.E., C.B., D.L., one of the great surgeons of his day. Young Taylor struck off for Africa after a conventional upbringing at a famous English public school, and in Africa he remained. When the price of ivory fell to next to nothing, other elephant hunters turned to new occupations. He did not. Accordingly, since the thirties he has been the only regular professional ivory hunter on the continent. The best way to give an idea of his life today and of the remarkable book he has written about it is to quote from his own words:

"The leopard is the real hunter, the fellow who never overlooks a bet, who never acts like a fool and forgets his bushcraft, who always has a good line of retreat. Potentially he is the most dangerous game in Africa."

(How to get down-wind of your Elephant) "I carry a small bag of wood ashes on my belt. Tap the sack with a finger and the particles of ash tell instantly how the air is moving, even when there is too little movement to feel it." '

Jacket Condition: Very Good
Binding Condition: Very Good