FAUNA BRITANNICA
by Duff Hart-Davis
Weidenfeld, £30, pp. 415, ISBN 0297825321
Time was that this sort of confusion did not occur. In the days when ‘publishing was a business for gentlemen’, the aforesaid gents would meet for luncheon (‘Your Club or mine?’); they would agree that they would not each publish a book with the same title at the same time. If unable to agree as to who would concede, they would probably toss a coin, winner to have the title. In these more commercial days, with plenty of regulations against collusion and combination, we have two apparently similar books with the same title purporting to meet the same demand. And do they?
Dr Buczacki’s book is heavier, better illustrated, much more exhaustive about some animals, almost dismissive about others, and much stronger on wild fauna, but weak to very weak on the more domesticated, as will be revealed later.
Duff Hart-Davis has more hands-on daily experience with farmyard fauna to set against Buczacki’s doctorate in forest science.
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