Travel Diaries of a Naturalist

London: Collins. Very Good/Very Good. 1985. First Edition. Hard Cover. Sm 4to 0002192322 Dust jacket price clipped. Green cloth boards with bright gilt titling on spine. Previous owner's inscription on ffep. Numerous colour photographs / illustrations. 288 pages clean and tight. . Line Drawings & Colour Illustrations (illustrator). Colour photographs by Philippa Scott. Line drawings and colour illustrations. No ownership inscription. 288 pages clean and tight. In the last thirty-five years Peter Scott has travelled almost all over the world. Wherever he has been he has kept a journal in words and pictures. This is the second volume to be published in book form, and tells of journeys in the northern hemisphere. His observations of natural history will interest not only scientists but also all those who have a fascination with places and their wildlife. Out in the field he sketches what he sees, using whatever medium comes to hand - pen, pencil, ball-point, felt-tip - and works up colour with crayon or paint. The illustrations are thus the careful record of a highly skilled artist drawing from a background of scientific understanding: they are the pictorial record of a man who knows exactly what he is recording and why. The diaries reveal the other interests and achievements of this remarkable man. He writes about archaeology, history, human behaviour, scuba-diving, and above all about conservation, in which field he is one of the most knowledgeable advocates, respected throughout the world for his balanced and enlightened view. Thus, when we visit a country in his diaries, we get some insight into the problems in the management of its environment. With the author we meet hundreds of characters, who are described with directness and a sense of humour. He is outspoken when he thinks people, institutions or policies are mistaken, but quick to attribute credit. The diaries have been edited by Miranda Weston-Smith, who has sorted the material into regions, each of which is the subject of a self-contained section. Copiously illustrated with Peter Scott's on-the-spot drawings and paintings, and with scene-setting photographs by his wife, they are a treasure house of knowledge, anecdotes, people, places and wildlife. .