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Novel Ballantyne Robert Michael (1 results)
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The Gorilla Hunters. A tale of the wilds of Africa.
Published by T. Nelson & Sons. 1861, 1861
Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom
Association Member: ABA ILAB PBFA
Seller Rating:
First Edition
FIRST EDITION. Front., additional illus. title & five further plates; occasional light spotting. Orig. mauve embossed cloth, pictorially blocked in gilt; spine faded, boards sl. dulled. A v.g. crisp copy of a scarce title. Quayle 26a; Sadleir 110 recording a copy, but he did not have it in his own collection; not in Wolff. Quayle notes that 'few copies of the first edition appear to have survived, and to find one in the original cloth binding is a rare occurrence. This may well be a measure of the popularity of the tale, the book having been "read to death" in the first few years of its existence to be finally consigned to the dustbin, dog-eared and tattered'. Both Sadleir's 'copy' and a copy sold at Sotheby's in 2015 were in purple cloth; this copy appears to be a variant. After the popular publication in early 1861 of Paul du Chaillu's book Exploration in Equatorial Guinea which included passages on the hitherto little-known gorilla (or 'ferocious wild men of the forest'), the publishers T. Nelson & Sons persuaded Ballantyne to write a novel on the subject. Published in December 1861, The Gorilla Hunters incorporates the characters of Jack Martin, Ralph Rover, and Peterkin Gay who also appeared in Ballantyne's most enduring novel Coral Island, published in 1858. Born in Edinburgh in 1825, Ballantyne joined the Hudson's Bay Company at the age of 16 leaving Scotland for remote Canada and the tough world of fur trading. Following in the footsteps of his uncle who was the printer of Sir Walter Scott's novels, Ballantyne privately printed his first tale Hudson Bay, a story of 'every-day life in the wilds of North America'. It began a prolific career in which Ballantyne produced scores of adventure novels for children. Between 1856 until his death in 1894 Ballantyne produced two if not three books a year. With his global tales of derring-do and exciting stories of the fast-paced and ever-changing Victorian world, Ballantyne, Sutherland notes, 'did for the English schoolboy's geography what Henty did for history'.
