Gifts for Animal Lovers

Family pets, farm animals, zoo animals or wild animals - all of us have our favourites, whether they’re lying on a fireside rug, on the garden bird table or migrating across the African savanna. Country House Library has an extensive collection of vintage and new books on the wonderful creatures who share our planet.

WILDLIFE OF BRITAIN BY F. FRASER DARLING 1942 - WILLIAM COLLINS

Published during the dark days of the Second World War, this vintage hardback on the wildlife of Britain gave solace for many in the bombed out cities. The author, Sir Frank Fraser Darling, was an English ornithologist, ecologist and one of the first conservationists. In 1969, his Reith Lecture focused on the dependence of all living things on one another – a message that surely rings loud and clear fifty years later. This beautifully illustrated book is worthy of any natural historian’s collection. Get close-up to the Country House Collection of books on wildlife here.

OBSERVER'S ZOO ANIMALS – WARNE 1972

Number 45 in a series of 100, these pocket-sized books published by Frederick Warne and Co from 1937 to 2003, became a by-word in accessible reference books, written for the layman to enjoy his field of interest. Popular with children, Observer books covered avariety of topics including hobbies, art, history and wildlife. Rare vintage editions are now worth hundreds of pounds to specialist collectors. This edition on zoo animals describes many of the animals which nowadays might be a rare sight in a zoo – conservation methods now concentrating on leaving these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat. Explore the entire Observer animal books collection in the Country House Library.

THE JUNGLE BOOK BY RUDYARD KIPLING 1965-7

 First published in 1894, The Jungle Book is one of most famous fictional works with animals as the central characters. Animated in the 20th century for the big screen by Walt Disney studios, the characters of man-cub ‘Mowgli’, bear ‘Baloo’, Python ‘Kaa’, black panther ‘Bargheera’ and tiger ‘Shere Khan’ are now famous the world over. Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the boy scouts and friend of Kipling’s, used some of the characters names and values in his uniformed movement for young people. Kipling was born in India and lived there until he was six, then returned as a teenager for a further seven years. This hardback edition published by Macmillan in 1965 is a rare example of this seminal work by one of the world’s greatest writers and deserves a place in an animal lover’s collection. Other books by Kipling here.

THE JUNGLE BOOK – NOTEBOOK AND MATTHEW WILLIAMSON'S LEOPARDS & FEATHERS - BALLPOINT PEN

This 200 page, lined notebook is a pedigree exhibit from the Country House Library collection of super stationery. Based on the artwork from the original Jungle Book, drawn by the author’s father John Kipling, this would make the perfect gift for animal and literature lovers. Why not combine with the classic ‘Leopards and Feathers’ ballpoint pen inspired by the prints of Matthew Williamson. Presented in a printed box with a chrome-finished clip this is the perfect pairing with the notebook. See the full list of stationery here.

LADYBIRD 606D WELL LOVED TALES: THE SLY FOX AND THE LITTLE RED HEN BY VERA SOUTHGATE 1968

Ladybird books, as an imprint of Wills & Hepworth bookshops, first appeared in 1914, and went on to produce hundreds of titles aimed primarily at children. They were so informative that,in the 1960’s, the police used the LadybirdHow It Works: The Motor Car, for the instruction of officers taking to the streets for the first time in patrol cars rather than on bicycles! This edition, retelling the traditional fairy-story of the Sly Fox and the Little Red Hen, in the ‘Well Loved Tales’ series by prolific Ladybird author Vera Southgate, is one of many tales for young animal lovers, ideal for both practising to read and for cosy bedtime stories. Start a collection of Southgate classics here.

BLACK BEAUTY BY ANNA SEWELL 1970 - COLLINS

“We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”

One of the best-selling books of all time, written in 1877, the author died just five months after its publication. With animal welfare at its core, this is a natural choice of gift for horse lovers, animal lovers and lovers of classic, vintage fiction. Telling the story of a young colt born in the English countryside, and the hardships he endures as a working horse, this work was the forerunner of the countless ‘pony’ books that followed, and indeed of the animal fiction genre. Although ‘Black Beauty’ is marketed as a book for children, that was not the author’s intention. Her book was instrumental in the abolition of the ‘check-rein’ – a Victorian fashion of keeping the horses head in a painful, high position. Canter over to Country House Library’s stable of other vintage equine books here.

VINTAGE PELICAN: THE PERSONALITY OF ANIMALS BY H. MUNRO FOX 

The David Attenborough of his day, Harold Munro Fox, was a noted British zoologist, Fellow of the Royal Society, and winner of the Darwin medal in 1966. This vintage book, published during the Second World War, would make a fascinating festive season gift for the animal lover and collector of antique books. For the complete Country House Collection on animals, click here.

BEATRIX POTTER'S THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF PETER RABBIT 1983

No collection of books with animals would be complete without Beatrix Potter. Whether your favourite is Peter Rabbit, Tom Kitten or Mrs Tittlemouse, Helen Beatrix Potter (1866 – 43) was a prolific writer of children’s books, with most of them following the lives of a menagerie of animal characters.Born into an upper-middle-class household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets and spent holidays in Scotland andthe Lake District,developing a love of landscape, flora and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. She wrote thirty books, many of which are currently available in vintage format from Country House Library. If we don’t have the title you’re looking for now, check back in on a regular basis – our stock is always changing!

THE BEAST IN ME AND OTHER ANIMALS BY JAMES THURBER 1961

Another rare find at Country House Library, this vintage Penguin from 1961, was first published in 1948, and written by one of America’s most famous cartoonists, humourists, playwright and wit. Among his more well known titles areThe Secret Life of Walter MittyandThe Male Animal, both of which have been frequently adapted into films. In this collection by Thurber the reader is introduced to thehippoteranovamus:-

“One of nature's most colossal errors, the hippoteranovamus. ate only stork meat and lived in a land devoid of storks. Too large to become jumpy because of its predicament, the novamus took out its frustration in timidity. It almost never came out completely from behind anything”

Find other titles by this comic genius here.

THE NEW BOOK OF BIRDS BY HORACE G. GROSSER 1909

This 1909 publication was an unusual departure for Andrew Melrose publishers, whose mainstays were works of new fiction and theological works. Founder, Andrew Melrose was also a pioneer in offering new authors substantial cash prizes for the best first novel submitted to his firm. This relatively obscure and decoratively covered album of natural history would adorn the bookshelves of a collection with animals at its heart.

SUMMARY

More than ever before, our innate love and curiosity for animals is central in mankind’s attempt to conserve the natural beauty of planet Earth. This selection of vintage books and modern stationery from Country House Library celebrates the written word’s contribution to the overwhelming compassion we have for the animal kingdom. Looking for gift ideas? View the incredible depth of choice for animal lovers here.