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Errol Fuller

The books are ordered by publication date with the most recent at the top.

Voodoo Salon

Errol Fuller

2014

"The wish to smudge the boundaries between life and death is an ancient one, and throughout history it has taken many guises and a variety of forms. One of them is taxidermy. And taxidermy has itself been used for many purposes and with very varied intention. Over the years it has fallen in and then out of favour but today, after decades in the doldrums, it is back in fashion. Contemporary artists use it in their productions, collectors avidly seek antique examples or assemble new work sourced from animals that have died accidentally or from natural causes. No longer is it necessarily inspired by hunting and shooting, or the willful destruction of wild animals. This book is a visual stroll through great examples of the craft – both historical and contemporary – with a commentary throwing light on its aims and intentions. Work commissioned by the world’s great museums is featured; so too are pieces ordered by private collectors including familiar names from the past. Charles Dickens, for instance, grieving at the death of his pet raven, paid a taxidermist to preserve its outward form. Taxidermy has served the cause of science, satisfied curiosity or ego, provided decoration, been produced to shock, educate, enthrall or entertain, suffered scorn and derision, been overlaid with artistic pretension – and, sometimes, even received acclaim! Here is a visual record of some of its most intriguing achievements."

Lost Animals: Extinction and the Photographic Record

Errol Fuller

2013

"A photograph of an animal long-gone evokes a feeling of loss more than a painting ever can. Often tinted sepia or black-and-white, these images were mainly taken in zoos or wildlife parks, and in a handful of cases featured the last known individual of the species. There are some familiar examples, such as Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon, or the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, recently fledged and perching happily on the hat of one of the biologists that had just ringed it. But for every Martha there are a number of less familiar extinct birds and mammals that were caught on camera prior to their demise. The photographic record of extinction is the focus of this remarkable book, written by the world's leading authority on vanished animals, Errol Fuller. Lost Animals features photographs dating from around 1870 to as recently as 2004, the year that saw the demise of the Hawaiian Po'ouli. From a mother Thylacine and her pups to now-extinct birds such as the Heath Hen and Carolina Parakeet, Fuller tells the tale of each animal, why it became extinct, and discusses the circumstances surrounding the photography itself, in a book rich with unique images."

Drawn From Paradise: The Discovery, Art and Natural History of the Birds of Paradise

David Attenborough & Errol Fuller

2012

"In this unique exploration of a truly awe-inspiring family of birds which to this day is still shrouded in mystery, David Attenborough and Errol Fuller trace the natural history of these enigmatic birds through their depiction in western works of art throughout the centuries, featuring beautiful illustrations by such luminary artists as Jacques Barraband, William Hart, John Gould, Rubens and Breughel, to name but a few. Experienced ornithologists and general nature and art enthusiasts alike will delight in this journey of discovery of the world's most beautiful and mysterious birds."

Hedley Fitton, The Accent of Truth

Errol Fuller

"Hedley Fitton has, until now, remained a shadowy figure whose work is enjoyed by a comparatively small band of enthusiasts. Widely admired during his lifetime for a series of beautiful etchings, his death in 1929 coincided with a general, and marked, loss of interest in etching, a tendency compounded by the financial repercussions of the great Depression. Headley's star fell and a bizarre, rather spiteful and unworthy, lack of critical approval did nothing to limit the fall. No catalogue raissone was ever produced and no proper attempt to examine the man's life and work has ever been made. Errol Fuller has breathed new life into the man and has offered a long overdue and comprehensive account of his work and achievement."

Dana Quarry and its Dinosaurs

Errol Fuller

"Dana Quarry is the story of a fossil site in Wyoming that may just be the most important dinosaur site ever discovered. It features the work of the famous paleontologist Raimund Albersdoerfer and the amazing discoveries he has made there."

The Dodo: A Brief History

Errol Fuller

2003

"The extinction of the dodo from the shores of Mauritius followed closely upon the arrival of Dutch and Portuguese sailors on the island in the sixteenth century. This sad tale is outlined in the first chapter which provides a brief history of the dodo. The following chapters investigate the dodo's natural history through the use of historical documents, illustrations, paintings, old drawings, and literary sources. Its behavior is examined in quotes from the sixteen written reports produced by travellers to the island, and the anatomy of the dodo is investigated from the bone records kept by anatomists and naturalists from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

The mythology surrounding the dodo has grown ever since it became extinct. Lewis Carroll's use of the dodo in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland elevated the bird to fantastical status and sparked a spate of dodo characters in newspapers, advertisements, and cartoons. In the fifth chapter, the author examines how man has incorporated the image of the dodo into literature and the arts, to become the powerful cultural icon that it is today.

The final chapters look more closely at two other dodo-like creatures: the Solitary from the island of Rodrigues and the legendary white dodo of the Réunion Island - which may have once existed or may simply be a figment of the imagination."

The Dodo: Extinction In Paradise

Errol Fuller

2003

"The Dodo: Extinction in Paradise explores the science and the mythology, the history, archaeology, and legend, as well as the dodo's place in art and literature. The story of the dodo is a classic of evolution and extinction to equal, in fascination, that of the dinosaur or the sabre-toothed tiger. Unlike these, the dodo was the first recorded example of extinction, in all probability, entirely caused by humans. Humankind coexisted with the dodo between 1598 and 1681, and then the dodo was gone, hunted to extinction, unable to escape the new predators that arrived in ships on their isolated island later known as Mauritius."

The Great Auk: The Extinction of the Original Penguin

Errol Fuller

2003

This book about the extinction of the Great Auk "recounts this tale of destruction and reminds us what we, as a species, have done and are still doing to the world around us."

Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age

Errol Fuller

2003

"This book tells the story of the Mammoth, how it lived and died and how its memory lives on in the present day. The Mammoth, with its shaggy coat, enormous tusks, and ponderous presence, is one of the great icons of extinction. It is also one of the few prehistoric creatures that is known not only from a few scattered fossilised bones, but from specimens that have been perfectly preserved. Complete mammoths lie frozen in the icy wastes of Siberia, and from time to time one is exposed as the temperature or conditions change. So, while there is doubt about when most prehistoric animals first appeared on earth, we know precisely when and where the mammoth lived."

Extinct Birds

Errol Fuller

2002

"In historic times many species have been hastened to extinction through human actions, inadvertent or deliberate. In the case of the Hawaiian rail, Fuller writes in this catalogue of birds that have disappeared since 1600, the introduction of alien species such as the mongoose, domestic cat and rat is likely to blame. Rats, too, killed off the Lord Howe Island white-eye when a ship accidentally grounded there in 1918. The Carolina parakeet disappeared a few years later, owing, perhaps, to the destruction of its forest habitat and its beautiful plumage, highly prized by hunters. Mosquitoes carried on other ships felled many other island species. And so on. Curiously, Fuller writes, the usual-suspect agents of extinction-hunting or egg collecting for example - have had a smaller effect on vulnerable bird species than have changes in the environment wrought by humans and their "accompanying menagerie."

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Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers

Edited by Josep Del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott and Jordi Sargatal

Lynx Edicions

2002

The volume includes an essay on extinct birds by Errol Fuller.

613 pages, 69 colour plates, over 300 colour photos, 402 distribution maps. Families covered in this volume include jacamars, puffbirds, barbets, toucans, honeyguides, and woodpeckers.

The Great Auk

Errol Fuller

1999

"Perhaps the most curious of all vanished birds, the Great Auk commands an enormous following among naturalists and its strange and mysterious story is told in the pages of this book. Not reliably seen since 1844, this remarkable bird has become one of the great icons of extinction. With more than 200 colour plates and a similar number of black and white pictures, this beautiful book brings together almost every known archival image of the species, along with dramatic photographs of the lonely islands it once inhabitated and intriguing pictures of the many fascinating characters involved in the Great Auk's tragic story." From the book jacket.

The Lost Birds of Paradise

Errol Fuller

Swan Hill Press

1995

"The bird-of-paradise family contains 43 recognized species, but it is not widely known that there are another 19 - some only known from a single specimen - the exact status of which is uncertain. This book sets out to tell the story of each of these birds and the people connected with them."

Kiwis: A Monograph of the Family Apterygidae

Editor: Errol Fuller

Swan Hill Press

1991

"Written by seven leading ornithologists with extensive knowledge of the species, and illustrated by one of the world's leading wildlife artists."

Extinct Birds

Errol Fuller

1987

Studies and Sketches of a Bird Painter

Paintings, Drawings and Text by Raymond Ching

Lansdowne Editions

1981