Savage Abyssinia

New York: J. H. Sears & Company, 1927. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. First Edition. Hardcover. James Edwin Baum (1887-1955) was an American journalist and big-game hunter. He ran away from home as a teenager and he worked as a wrangler before becoming a reporter at the Omaha Daily Bee. He also worked as the hunting and fishing columnist for the Chicago Daily News before serving as a pilot during World War I. Baum rejoined the Chicago Daily News in 1925 and accompanied the paper's 1926–27 Abyssinia expedition, for which he shot big game specimens for the Field Museum of Natural History. This expedition was conceived by Baum and Louis Agassiz Fuertes who collaborated with Wilfred Hudson Osgood from the Field Museum in its organization. Osgood led the expedition. Fuertes was an American ornithologist, illustrator and artist. He is considered one of the most prolific American bird artists, second only to his predecessor John James Audubon. Fuertes participated in the 1926–27 expedition, but, tragically, after his return home his car was hit by a train at a railroad crossing near Unadilla, New York, and he was killed. Baum wrote the book Savage Abyssinia about the expedition in 1927. He dedicated it to the memory of Louis Agassiz Fuertes. This is an interesting narrative of their travels, the local people and customs, and the wild animals of what is now Ethiopia and the rest of the region. Contains numerous black-and-white photographic illustrations of the landscape, people, and animals. Octavo. Orange cloth-covered boards with title in gilt to front cover and spine. Spine is slightly faded. Minor bumping to edges of covers and spine. Small paint mark on rear cover. Text block is slightly yellowed, but text is clear and clean. 336 pages. TRAVEXP/070925.