This is the second edition of London Zoo From Old Photographs, first published in 1996. Approximately two hundred images from the first edition have been retained and two hundred fresh ones have been added, making a total of about four hundred in all. The text has been completely revised and, in places, rewritten.
The photographs which are accompanied by full and detailed captions provide a fascinating window on the vanished world of London Zoo in the Victorian and Edwardian period, when, perhaps more than any other collection, it formed the bridge between primitive menageries which preceded it and the scientifically operated, conservation oriented zoos of the 21st Century. Here you will find the earliest known photographs of living birds, fish, giraffe, camel, rhinoceros, thylacine etc., all the known photographs of Jumbo the elephant of London Zoo, all the five known photographs of a living quagga, as well as many extinct or very rare species. London Zoo From Old Photographs can be appreciated at many levels – from that of the professional zoologist to that of a child making his or her first steps in discovering the fascinating world of Zoology.