Durrell was a naturalist and zoologist with a magnificent ability to capture the joy of nature and share his fascination with animals. As someone who grew up in Essex and had, at that time, travelled no further than the coast, bar one school day trip to France, I loved exploring the exotic world of Corfu, the Cameroons, British Guyana and elsewhere—even the more close to home tales of Zoos, whether in Jersey or Whipsnade. The books were totally engaging—and I'm glad to see that many of them are still in print—and made me an early supporter of conservation projects and the WWF. All my original copies of Durrell's disappeared years ago when I began reading science fiction in my teens but I began picking up copies again a couple of years ago and found most of my old favourites pretty quickly.
What prompted me was the broadcast of My Family and Other Animals by the BBC in 2005, which I thoroughly enjoyed. That and reading Douglas Botting's biography of Durrell. If you have kids and you would like them to have an appreciation of the animals around them, you couldn't do better than finding them a copy of My Family and Other Animals or A Zoo in my Luggage.
Penguin 1228, 1957. Cover: Paxton Chadwick
Penguin 2082, 1964. Cover photo: Russ Kinne
Penguin 1266, 1958, 202pp. Cover: Ralph Thompson
---- [2nd imp.] 1959; [3rd imp.] 1961; [4th imp.] 1961, 2/6;
---- [5th imp.] 1963, 202pp, Cover: photo by Jane Burton
---- [6th imp.] 1964, 202pp, 3/6.
---- [7th imp.] 1965; [8th imp.] 1967; [9th imp.] 1968; [10th imp.] 1970; [11th imp.] 1971; [12th imp.] 1971; [13th imp.] 1972
Penguin 01266 [14th imp.], 1973. Cover: photo by Jane Burton (as above)
Peacock PK4, 1962. Cover photo: Suschitzky
Penguin 1314, 1958. Cover: Ralph Thompson
----, [2nd imp.] 1960; [3rd imp.] 1961; [4th imp.] 1962
Penguin 1314 [5th imp.], 1963. Cover photo: George Hughes
---- [6th imp.] 1964; [7th imp.] 1966; [8th imp.] 1967; [9th imp.] 1969
Penguin 1314 [13th imp.], 1974. Cover: photo
Penguin 1399, 1959. Cover: Ralph Thompson
---- [2nd imp.] 1960, 301pp, 3/6.
---- [3rd imp.] 1961, 301pp, 3/6; [4th imp.] 1962; [5th imp.] 1963; [6th imp.] 1963
Penguin 1399 [7th imp.], 1964. Cover photo: Grace Thompson
---- [8th imp.] 1965; [9th imp.] 1966; [10th imp.] 1967; [11th imp.] 1968; [12th imp.] 1969; [13th imp.] 1970; [14th imp.] 1970; [15th imp.] 1971; [16th imp.] 1971; [17th imp.] 1972; [18th imp.] 1973; [19th imp.] 1973; [20th imp.] 1974; [21st imp.] 1974; [22nd imp.] 1975; [23rd imp.] 1975; [24th imp.] 1976; [25th imp.] 1976; [26th imp.] 1977; [27th imp.] 1978; [28th imp.] 1978; [29th imp.] 1979; [30th imp.] 1979; [31st imp.] 1980
---- [32nd imp.] 1980, 301pp, £1.00. Cover by Julia Whatley
Penguin 1890, 1963. Cover photo: John Markham
Penguin 1890 [2nd imp.], 1964. Cover photo: ZFA
Penguin 1890 [5th imp.], 1969. Cover photo: Ida Kar
Penguin 2084, 1964. Cover photo: Hanz Hinz
Penguin 2084 [3rd imp.], 1966. Cover photo: Hanz Hinz
Penguin 2083, 1964, 216pp, 3/6. Cover photo: Othmar Danesch
---- [2nd imp.] 1965; [3rd imp.] 1967; [4th imp.] 1967; [5th imp.] 1969; [6th imp.] 1971; [7th imp.] 1971; [8th imp.] 1972; [9th imp.] 1973; [10th imp.] 1974; [11th imp.] 1975; [12th imp.] 1976; [13th imp.] 1977; [14th imp.] 1979; [15th imp.] 1980; [16th imp.] 1982; [17th imp.] 1984
---- [18th imp.] 1986, 216pp, £2.50. Cover by Julia Whatley
Penguin 2522, 1967.
Penguin 2522 [6th imp.], 1974. Cover photo: Bruce Coleman Ltd.
Fontana 2168, 1968. [11th imp., 1974]. Cover: photo.
Fontana 634554 [23rd imp.], n.d. Cover: Arthur Robins
Fontana 2733, 1969. Cover: photo
Fontana 2751, 1971. Cover: photo
Fontana 3094, 1973, 189pp, 30p. Cover: photo
Fontana 4462, 1975
---- [2nd imp.] Jul 1976, 221pp, 70p. Cover by Arthur Robbins
Fontana 4161, 1976, 189pp, 70p. Cover by Arthur Robbins
Fontana 5000, 1977: Cover: Arthur Robins
Fontana 5557, 1979, 157pp, 85p. Cover: Arthur Robins
Fontana 6312, 1981, 193pp, £1.25. Cover by Arthur Robins?
PUBLICATIONS
Novel
Rosie is my Relative. London, Collins, 1968; New York, Viking, 1968.
The Mockery Bird. London, Collins, 1981; New York, Simon & Schuster, 1982.
Novels for Children
The Donkey Rustlers, illus. Anne Mieke van Ogtrop. London, Collins, 1968.
The Talking Parcel. London, Collins, 1974; New York, Lippincott, 1975.
The Fantastic Flying Journey. London, Conran Octopus, 1987.
The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure, illus. Graham Percy. London, Conran Octopus, 1989.
Short Stories
The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium. London, Collins, 1979; as The Picnic and Other Inimitable Stories, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1980.
Marrying off Mother and other stories. London, HarperCollins, 1991.
Non-fiction
The Overloaded Ark, illus. Sabine Baur. London, Faber & Faber, 1953; New York, Viking, 1953.
Three Singles to Adventure. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1954; as Three Tickets to Adventure, New York, Viking, 1955.
The Bafut Beagles, illus. Ralph Thompson. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1954; New York, Viking, 1954.
The New Noah (for children), illus. Ralph Thompson. London, Collins, 1955; New York, Viking, 1964.
The Drunken Forest, illus. Ralph Thompson. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1956; New York, Viking, 1956.
My Family and Other Animals. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1956; New York, Viking, 1957.
Encounters with Animals, illus. Ralph Thompson. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1958; New York, Avon, 1970.
A Zoo in my Luggage, illus. Ralph Thompson. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1960; New York, Viking, 1960.
Look at Zoos, illus. Pat Marriott. London, Hamish Hamilton, 1961.
The Whispering Land, illus. Ralph Thompson. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1961; New York, Viking, 1962.
Island Zoo, photographs by W. Suschitzky. London, Collins, 1961; as Island Zoo: The Animals a Famous Collector Couldn't Part With, New York, Macrae Smith, 1963.
Menagerie Manor, illus. Ralph Thompson. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1964; New York, Viking, 1965.
Two in the Bush, illus. B. L. Driscoll. London, Collins, 1966; New York, Viking, 1966.
Birds, Beasts and Relatives. London, Collins, 1969; New York, Viking, 1969.
Fillets of Plaice. London, Collins, 1971; New York, Viking, 1971.
Catch me a Colobus, illus. Edward Mortelmans. London, Collins, 1972; New York, Viking, 1972.
Beasts in my Belfry, illus. Edward Mortelmans. London, Collins, 1973; as A Bevy of Beasts, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1973.
The Stationary Ark. London, Collins, 1976; New York, Simon & Schuster, 1976.
Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons, illus. Edward Mortelmans. London, Collins, 1977; New York, Simon & Schuster, 1977.
Garden of the Gods. London, Collins, 1978; as Fauna and Family, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1979.
The Amateur Naturalist: A Practical Guide to the Natural World, with Lee Durrell. London, Hamish Hamilton, 1982; New York, Knopf, 1983.
Ark on the Move. London, Collins, 1982; New York, Coward-McCann, 1983.
How to Shoot an Amateur Naturalist. London, Collins, 1984; New York, Little Brown, 1984.
Gerald and Lee Durrell in Russia, London, Macdonald, 1986; New York, Simon & Schuster, 1986.
The Ark's Anniversary. London, Collins, 1990.
Keeper, illus. Keith West (for children). London, Michael O'Mara, 1990.
Toby the Tortoise (for children). London, Michael O'Mara, 1991.
The Aye-Aye and I. London, HarperCollins, 1992; New York, Simon & Schuster, 1994.
The Puppy Books. Scott Ltd., 1993.
The Best of Gerald Durrell, ed. Lee Durrell. London, HarperCollins, 1996.
Omnibus
The Corfu Trilogy (contains: My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives, The Garden of the Gods). London, Penguin, 2006.
Others (Edited)
My Favourite Animal Stories. London, Lutterworth, 1962; New York, McGraw, 1962.
Others
On the Track of Unknown Animals by Bernard Heuvelmans; translated by Richard Garnett; illus. Monique Watteau; introduction by Gerald Durrell. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1958; New York, Hill & Wang, 1958.
Beasts in my Bed by Jacquie Durrell; with footnotes by Gerald Durrell. London, Collins, 1967; New York, Atheneum, 1967.
Island Trails by Theodore Stephanides; introduction by Gerald Durrell. London, Macdonald, 1973.
Children's Nature Encyclopaedia, ed. Joyce Pope; foreword by Gerald Durrell. London, Sundial, 1978.
Ourselves and other Animals by Peter Evans; from the TV series with Gerald and Lee Durrell; introduction by Gerald Durrell. London, Century, 1987.
A Jubilee Bibliography 1963-1988: A Systematic and General Subject Index to Articles, Papers and Illustrations, compiled by Christopher M. Perkins; introduction by Gerald Durrell. Jersey, Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, 1988.
Charles Waterton, 1782-1865: Traveller and Conservationist by Julia Blackburn; foreword by Gerald Durrell. London, Bodley Head, 1989.
Best Dog Stories, introduced by Gerald Durrell. London, Michael O'Mara, 1990.
Oliver Goldsmith's History of the Natural World by Oliver Goldsmith; foreword by Gerald Durrell. London, Studio Editions, 1990.
The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the Twentieth Century by Karl Shuker; foreword by Gerald Durrell. London, HarperCollins, 1993.
About
Himself and Other Animals: A Portrait of Gerald Durrell by David Hughes. London, Hutchinson, 1997.
Gerald Durrell: The Authorised Biography by Douglas Botting. London, HarperCollins, 1999.
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