Zoo History Books

zoogiraffe said:
Who knows what is going to happen but we should know by the 7th January,given that when it comes to the letter of the zoo licencing act Gill has had more than nine lives.Any way back to the book having read both the version that went on sale and the version that didn't go to print two very different books!
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He obviously doesn't like how other (most) people see him. The first version was written for him wasn't it? I've not got around to reading it yet. I enjoyed the published one a lot. The chapter about personalised number plates is hilarious.
 
Other than National Geographic's on Snowflake the white gorilla, has than been a book from the Bracelona Zoo?
 
junglejim said:
Other than National Geographic's on Snowflake the white gorilla, has than been a book from the Bracelona Zoo?
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I picked up a book when I was there in 2011 called 'Parc del Zoo' in Catalan and Castilian/Spanish - it's got quite a few old pictures and is a history of both the zoo and the Parc de la Ciutadella (the zoo dominates), together with a section on the then-current future plans, including the separate 'marine zoo' they planned. Can't see a publication date but the history section ends in 2009.

This is it: Parc Del Zoo: El Corazon de la Ciutadella: Ajuntament de Barcelona, Zoo Barcelona, /: Amazon.com: Books


EDIT: Actually, though I remembered it as bilingual I've just checked and my copy appears to be Spanish only. Would be surprised if there weren't a Catalan edition out there, though.
 
To the author of this thread, back in the day the Chicago's Brookfield Zoo had "the library" of wildlife/ animal/ zoo books for sale in a what was like a research indepth museum library store. It was awesome! Years ago they took it away sadly. It wasn't anything like cheap surface type books either, this was serious stuff! I loved it.
 
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Since I posted this thread in December I've gone on to order the following 14 books that were suggested by fellow ZooChatters and most have already arrived in the mail. There were many other books that I either could not locate or didn't purchase due to the price. Nevertheless I already have lots to read!

The Passion Of John Aspinall by Brian Masters
It Began with a Roar! by Harry M. Wegeforth & Neil Morgan
Schonbrunn Zoo – Myth and Truth by Dagmar Schratter & Oliver Lehmann
Rhinos on the Lawn and the People who made the Cotswold Wildlife Park by Matthew Jones
From Cows to Tigers – Building Noah’s Ark by Anthony Bush (Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm)
Zoo Story (Paignton) by Philip Knowling
Chimps, Champs, and Elephants (Paignton) by Jack Baker
The Road to Rode (Bird Garden) by Betty Risdon
A Zoo for all Seasons (Washington) by the Smithsonian Institution
Some of my Best Friends are Animals (Dublin) by Terry Murphy
My Jungle Babies (Kilverstone) by Rosamund Fisher
Gathering of Animals: An Unconventional History of the New York Zoological Society... by William Bridges
Berggren’s Beasts (Boras) by Sigvard Berggren
Halifax Zoo And Amusement Park by Harry Armitage (16-page reprint of 1978 book)

Also, on Amazon I've pre-ordered these two eagerly anticipated books that are due to be published on May 1st and August 1st, respectively:

Woodland: The Story of the Animals and People of Woodland Park Zoo by John Bierlein
Through the Lion Gate: A History of the Berlin Zoo by Gary Bruce

Lastly, I ordered this 2014 zoo book that had previously escaped my attention:

Reptiland: How a Boyhood Dream became a Modern Zoo by Clyde Peeling
 
I picked up a couple of new zoo history books for my collection last weekend at a second-hand book store, including one from Sigvard Berggren, but not the one @snowleopard and @Designaka have, it is called Freedom Forest and was published 1962. THis one, which I think is the first book from Berggren, seems to focus on his time as an animal-collector in Africa, with a little on setting up Boras. Is there a bit of a series of books about Boras by Berggren, sort of a Swedish version of Durrell?

I also got Some of Our Best Friends are Animals, on Cricket St. Thomas (UK), which looks like another interesting read, although flicking through it I see there is a photo of a rhea labelled "Emu"...
 
zooboy28 said:
I picked up a couple of new zoo history books for my collection last weekend at a second-hand book store, including one from Sigvard Berggren, but not the one @snowleopard and @Designaka have, it is called Freedom Forest and was published 1962. THis one, which I think is the first book from Berggren, seems to focus on his time as an animal-collector in Africa, with a little on setting up Boras. Is there a bit of a series of books about Boras by Berggren, sort of a Swedish version of Durrell?

I also got Some of Our Best Friends are Animals, on Cricket St. Thomas (UK), which looks like another interesting read, although flicking through it I see there is a photo of a rhea labelled "Emu"...
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'Berggren's Beasts', referred to in an earlier post, continues the early story of Boras.
 
Last year Der Zoo der anderen by Jan Mohnhaupt was published, unfortunately only in German. It focuses on the story of the two Berlin zoos in the period of the GDR. The focus is the competition and interesting relations both zoos had and how they used politics to their advantage. It shows the perspectives from both sides, focused on the legendary directors: Klos and Dathe. There are also several interesting sidesteps when persons leave Berlin and develop their own career (like Dr. Gewalt trying to catch the Beluga swimming in the Rhine).

I just read this book and it is a must for anyone who understands even only a bit of German. It is zoo history brought in a personal and entertaining way. People who don't understand German have another incentive to learn it :p

Der Zoo der Anderen - Bücher - Hanser Literaturverlage
 
Not about one individual zoo or histories like the other books here, and more about the animals than the zoos themselves, but I highly recommend The Photo Ark by Joel Sartore.
 
I haven't seen this one listed in the thread yet, but I loved Kara Arundel's book about the Smithsonian's National Zoo, just published last year:

Raising America's Zoo: How Two Gorillas Helped Transform the National Zoo

https://www.raisingamericaszoo.com/

The gorillas are the main focus, but it covers more of the zoo's history than just the gorillas.
 
There is a new book on the 175th anniversary of the Berlin zoo, "Capital of the Animals - The History of the oldest German zoo", of course with a panda on the cover . The book has 280 pages and is superbly illustrated, mostly unknown, not yet published footage. It tells the story of the zoo not chronologically, as it usually does a zoochronik, but on the basis of individual chapters, which are each assigned to a different theme. The livestock is not in the foreground, and so the book is only in a few cases explicitly on individual species or individuals, as of course the pandas. It's also relatively superficial, but well-written-it reads really well, so I finished it in two days. It's a good match to the previous chronicles, even if it's not completely flawless. To stand for example, it gives the for the opening of the elephant pagoda in 1872 Asian elephants and probably white rhinos as spieces. This is badly researched, because the complete opening stocking is well documented, ( one african and one asian elephant, 3 indian rhinos and a black rhino) and white rhinos were first in 1946 imported to a zoo and first in Berlin in 1963. Incidentally, so many historical mistakes in the book, which allegedly corrected in a second edition should be. Allegedly, the book is already sold out, although it was published in July. The best chapter, since it contains many unknown information, deals with the role that the zoo had taken in the Third Reich and the Nazi past of the director Lutz Heck. I would not label the book as a book that should not be missing in a zoo library, but it is worth to buy for those are interested in the history of the Berlin zoo, because of the photos that make the book interesting for those buyers, they can not read German. It costs 30 euros, which is absolutely ok.

https://www.amazon.de/Hauptstadt-Ti...ds=Zoo+berlin&qid=1569226838&s=gateway&sr=8-1
 
I should really update this thread with a list of my current collection of zoo history books sometime, but for now I shall note that I have just filled a *big* gap in my collection:

Tim May said:
“The Zoological Society of London : a Sketch of its Foundation and Development, and the Story of its Farm, Museum, Gardens, Menagerie and Library” (Henry Scherren; 1905)
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....having managed to track down a copy in very good condition - barring a small amount of foxing - for only around £25 after keeping my eyes peeled for quite some time.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I should really update this thread with a list of my current collection of zoo history books sometime, but for now I shall note that I have just filled a *big* gap in my collection:



....having managed to track down a copy in very good condition - barring a small amount of foxing - for only around £25 after keeping my eyes peeled for quite some time.
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I picked up a copy of this in Melbourne in early 2019, although for a little more than £25 (in fact, the price noted within the cover is £38, not sure when it was sold for that). Mine is apparently 406/1000 copies. It is a very beautiful book.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I should really update this thread with a list of my current collection of zoo history books sometime, but for now I shall note that I have just filled a *big* gap in my collection:



....having managed to track down a copy in very good condition - barring a small amount of foxing - for only around £25 after keeping my eyes peeled for quite some time.
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Looks like a goodie, I don’t know that one (starts googling)
 
TeaLovingDave said:
....having managed to track down a copy in very good condition - barring a small amount of foxing - for only around £25 after keeping my eyes peeled for quite some time.
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It's a scarce book; my copy cost a lot more than that some thirty years ago, so that's a bargain.
FBBird said:
Looks like a goodie, I don’t know that one (starts googling)
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You can't beat having a copy of the original book but it can be downloaded from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
 
Not sure if this is the best place to ask but is anyone aware if any of the major books about or written by Heinrich Dathe or Bernard Blaszkiewitz are available in English?
 
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