Dream Island - A Record of the Simple Life

1930. First edition. 192pp., a frontispiece and 6 other black and white plates and several illustration in the text. Ronald Mathias Lockley (1903-2000) was a Welsh ornithologist and naturalist, and wrote over fifty books. His book 'The Private Life of the Rabbit' was used in the development of his friend Richard Adams's children's book Watership Down. In 1927, he became the custodian of Skokholm and its derelict farmhouse, where he spent twelve years with his wife and daughter, building his utopia from the bounty of the sea, recording and studying migratory birds, working the land, living out his dream until it was shattered by the outbreak of the Second World War. Dream Island is his account of how he discovered his love of nature and the freedom and struggle of living a self-sufficient life. The book is bound in the original light brown cloth covered boards with dark brown titling and brown and blue illustrations on the spine and front board. The case of the book is in very good condition with shelf wear and some light soiling to the boards and light bumping to the spine ends. The contents are tight and clean with no inscription.…