RETROSPECT

First Edition: 353 pages, colour frontispiece - Flamingoes nesting in the Spanish Marisma, 19 coloured plates with captions on the tissue guards, 39 black and white plates, numerous black and white text illustrations, top edge gilt, other edges uncut, original green cloth titled gilt on the spine, a very good copy.

Czech (Kenneth)An Annotated Bibliography of Big Game Hunting Books 1785 - 1999 page 60: A beautifully illustrated work celebrating Chapman's varied sporting adventures, this book includes hunting buffalo, rhino, elephant and plains game near the Guaso Nyiro in British East Africa. There are also interesting chapters on the philosophy of nature study and the safeguarding of wildlife.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-64726): Abel Chapman (1851–1929) was one of the old-style dilettante landowning sportsmen, artists, and authors. While he was prepared to rough it like a frontiersman, he preferred to travel in luxury, champagne being his favourite drink in the field. His books are fluently written, perhaps too discursive and anecdotal for a modern taste, but they display his wide general knowledge and competence with sketchbook and camera. As well as being a man of action Chapman gave thought to the philosophy of nature study. In his Retrospect (1928) he devoted a chapter to his opinions on the emerging discipline of animal behavioural ecology. His engaging and lively personal observations about nature and its study brought Chapman a wide audience in his time. Unafraid to take issue with specialists, he was a prolific contributor of articles and letters to sporting magazines and the newspapers. He enjoyed controversy, but was generally well liked and respected. He was, in addition, a sympathetic person, and a quiet philanthropist in a number of causes. In 1922 the University of Durham conferred on him the honorary degree of master of arts.