Whitehouse led an interesting life. He was a collegiate boxing champion at Yale. Upon graduating in 1899, he traveled to Africa for a map-making and hunting expedition in Somaliland, Ethiopia, and East Africa (Abyssinia). As one of the leaders of the hunting party, he was written about in the 1902 book by P.H.G. Powell-Cotton, “A Sporting Trip through Abyssinia”. Notably, Powell-Cotton became disenchanted with the party after one of the other hunting guides, James J. Harrison, showed lack of discretion shooting young lions. After, Powell-Cotton departed for the Simien Mountains, while the rest of the party continued to Lake Rudolph. In 1904, he was among the first to be granted a pilot’s license for operating hot air balloons. As an African hunter, he earned particular favor with Theodore Roosevelt, who invited him to dinner to ask various questions about hunting in Africa in 1908. Some accounts claim that the two would later hunt together. It is unclear how Whitehouse ended up in Africa, but George Whitehouse, a potential relation, was chief engineer for the Ugandan Railway.
“This work was apparently extracted from the Boone & Crockett publication Hunting and Conservation edited by George Bird Grinnell, then bound in card covers for distribution to the author’s friends.” It details the big-game hunting trip in Abyssinia, notably, the portion to Lake Rudolph and beyond not covered by Powell-Cotton, who was no longer with the party during this part of the trip. Reads as a first-hand account of the terrain, animals, people, route, etc., with B&W photos throughout. Suspected to be from the diaries of Whitehouse. It starts on p. 258 and ends on p. 339. Accounts of hunts for elephant, rhino, wild dogs, lions, gazelle, koodoo (kudu), and more, as well as general accounts of Shakari life. FirstSearch shows 11 copies, but I locate none at auction or retail.
Bound in basic blue paper wraps with black accents and lettering. Some fading at edges and shelf wear. Internally, clean, with some bent corners. Staple binding. VG condition. The book is exactly as pictured. Any questions, please ask.
From the esteemed private collection of Esmond Bradley Martin. Martin was a geographer and conservation who largely pioneered the movement to combat ivory, horn, and tusk trading in Africa, which is believed to have led to his eventual murder at his estate in Kenya, with additional ties to the Carnegie Steel empire. A quite unique provenance for this extremely rare item.
