Complete Zoo Quest Series [6 volumes]

ATTENBOROUGH, David. Zoo Quest Series [6 volumes]. Including: Zoo Quest to Guyana, Zoo Quest for a Dragon, Zoo Quest in Paraguay, Quest in Paradise, Zoo Quest to Madagascar [and] Quest Under Capricorn. London: Lutterworth Press, 1956-1963.

8vo, 6 vols; publisher's green, red and blue cloth, all lettered in gilt to spine; together in the pictorial, unclipped dustwrappers. 

First editions, first printings. A complete set of Attenborough’s first books, published over the course of seven years.

Accompanied by an official 1982 Charles Darwin Foundation, Benham official cover, signed by David Attenborough.

A lovely set, each with colour frontis photograph and additionally illustrated in black and white, with maps, some additional colour photographs in the later volumes. The set comprises:

1. Zoo Quest to Guiana (1956): good copy, binding with a slight lean but firm, with some spots of discolouration to spine and a little wear and crushing to spine tips and corner, as well as some foxing to the closed text block and prelims, with pages clean with the exception of an inscription in pen to FFEP, and with a few cracks to gutter throughout; in the unclipped (18s. net) jacket, rubbed, creased, marked and worn, with tape repairs to verso and significant loss to spine tips and part of panels.
2. Zoo Quest for a Dragon (1957): very good copy, binding square and secure, pages clean with the exception of an inscription to FFEP, with spine tips crushed, a couple of small marks to boards, and heavy foxing to edges and prelims; in the unclipped jacket (18s. net), a tad creased and rubbed to extremities.
3. Zoo Quest in Paraguay (1959): very good copy, binding with a light lean but firm, with slight bowing to covers, mild crushing to spine tips and foxing to the closed text block, with pages clean with the exception of a written inscription to FFEP; in the unclipped (18s net) jacket, worn and creased to extremities and with the plastic peeling away slightly, a tad grubby on the inside.
4. Quest in Paradise (1960): very good copy, binding with a lean but firm, with crushing to spine tips and a little foxing to the closed text block, with pages clean and uninscribed; in the unclipped (18s net) jacket, with wear, darkening and nibbling to extremities.
5. Zoo Quest to Madagascar (1961): very good copy, binding with a lean but firm, with crushing and discolouration to spine tips, and covers a little bowed, with pages clean and uninscribed; in the unclipped (18s net) jacket, with heavier wear and chipping to extremities, plastic peeling away from the jacket, with a few small closed tears.
6. Quest Under Capricorn (1963): very good copy, binding square and firm, with crushing to spine tips and corners, with the closed text block and prelims slightly foxed, with pages clean and uninscribed; in the unclipped (21s net) jacket, foxed on the inside, with chipping and wear to extremities, and a few small closed tears.

Zoo Quest was a multi-part nature documentary broadcast on the BBC between 1954 and 1963, marking David Attenborough’s first major programme and firmly establishing him as a nature documentary presenter. In each instalment, he teamed up with a member of staff from London Zoo, travelling to a foreign country to capture an animal for the collection (a common practice at the time). Attenborough wrote a companion book for each expedition except the first, producing a total of six volumes for seven episodes. The series achieved great success, with Zoo Quest for a Dragon containing the first recorded footage of a Komodo dragon. In sequence, the books recount the author’s expeditions to Guiana, Indonesia, Paraguay, New Guinea and the Islands of the South Seas (Tonga and Fiji), Madagascar, and Australia.