R.J. : RICHARD JOHN CUNINGHAME 1871 - 1925. By Monty Brown.

2004 1st edition. 4to (210 x 286mm). Pp399. Colour and b/w photographs, colour and b/w illustrations. Blue-grey cloth, spine titled in gilt.

British East Africa "was a powerful magnet for an assortment of spirited men during the period between 1895 and 1914. [Prominent] amongst them was a singular man of many talents, by the name of Richard John Cuninghame - 'R.J.' as he was popularly known... Cuninghame's outstanding ability as a big game hunter was soon recognised, and with the satisfactory conclusion of the enormous Roosevelt expedition of 1909/10, for which he was the overall leader, his ...reputation was internationally established. His competence as an efficient conductor of safaris ...as a hunter of African big game, in which he was particularly proficient at hunting elephant ...as a field naturalist, and association with the Natural History Museum in London; and his extensive experience of travel in Africa, stretching from the Cape ...to Cairo in Egypt, made him stand high above others. ...His personal contribution to the advancement of East Africa came through his efforts to popularise the big game hunting industry prior to the First World War. Little did he know that the profession he chose to follow would continue to boost the country's image in the eyes of the outside world for fifty years after his death in 1925."