THE MAMMALS OF SOUTH-WEST AFRICA

A biological account of the forms occurring in that region

With a foreword by Field Marshall Vicsount Allenby

With illustrations and maps

First edition: 2 volumes, 779 pages - continuously paginated, frontispiece in both volumes, 12 maps, 35 black and white plates, foxing mainly on the page edges, scuffed green cloth boards with gilt vignettes on the upper covers, titled gilt on the spines, which are slightly faded, a good set.

Shortridge, Captain Guy Chester 1880 1949 Museum Director. With financial aid from the Percy Sladen Trustees, channelled through the British Museum, Shortridge undertook an expedition to the Orange River, between Upington and the Molopo River, to collect mammals for the British and Kaffrarian museums. The expedition took place from November 1922 to January 1923 and 376 specimens were collected.

The success of this venture led to a further grant from the Percy Sladen Trustees, to finance a winter expedition to South West Africa (now Namibia) in 1923. Altogether Shortridge undertook 14 such expeditions between the time of his appointment and his death in 1949, six of them to Namibia during the first ten years. He traversed the inhospitable region from the Orange River to the Caprivi, mostly in a donkey waggon and on foot.

During 1933 he went to London on 12 months' leave to complete his most important publication, The mammals of South West Africa: A biological account of the forms occurring in that region (London, 1934, 2 vols). The book dealt with about 200 mammal species, providing details of their appearance, habits and distribution, and earned him a lasting reputation among zoologists.
https://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Biograph_final.php?serial=2576