[PHOTOGRAPHY, HUNTING, AFRICA, BIG GAME]

MAXWELL, Marius (author & photographer)

“STALKING BIG GAME WITH A CAMERA IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA”

New York.  The Century Co. 1924. Folio (11.25 x 15.25). (xxii) 202 pp. First Edition.  Signed Limited Edition # 64 of 568 copies (of which only 250 copies were reserved for America, of which this copy is one). Bound in original gilt decorated green cloth. Crown worn as shown. Cover with soil and blemishes. Contents save for 8 marginal instances of light staining clean. Beautifully photo illustrated with 113 photogravure plates of African wild game in their original habitats. Complete with large folding photo of stampeding elephants in rear pocket. Overall, very good. 

A respectable and complete example of the far scarcer AMERICAN edition of this large and impressive work on African Big Game just as the era of killing animals in Africa began to wane under ethical pressure. The notion of capturing animals merely using a camera vs weapons was popularized by this work. 

Potential buyers please note the different editions of this work seen in the market:

First Issue: 1924 - Signed Limited Edition total 568 copies. Imperial Quarto/Folio edition.  (318 British issue printed in England for the Medici Society in London; 250 American issue printed in England for The Century Co. in New York) Illustrated with fine quality photogravures. 

Second Issue: 1925 - Trade edition - Royal Quarto. William Heinemann Ltd. (standard photo illustrated)  

Later Issues: Standard quarto issues (7 in x 10 in) and others. 

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Marius Maxwell (1887 - 1936) started out in the sugar cane business in India before becoming a coffee grower in Kenya. He was a keen big game sportsman but gave it up in favour of the camera. He was a photography pioneer in taking wildlife close-ups and photographing from a moving car.

Stalking Big Game With A Camera In Equatorial Africa by Marius Maxwell (1924). In this book Maxwell pays his respects to C G Schillings and A Radclyffe Dugmore, pioneers in the field of big game photography. However neither of them were able to capture animals with enough detail to satisfy the naturalists. In order to accomplish this Maxwell tried to use a telephoto lens as little as possible and relied primarily on an ordinary lens, which necessitated close proximity to the animals in order to obtain the best shot. The results are stunning. 

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