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The Resource The feather thief : beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century, Kirk Wallace Johnson

The feather thief : beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century, Kirk Wallace Johnson

Creator
Author
Summary
On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins, some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them, and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
Large print edition.
Extent
483 pages (large print), 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9781432853174
Instance
Label
The feather thief : beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century
Title
The feather thief
Title remainder
beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century
Statement of responsibility
Kirk Wallace Johnson
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins, some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them, and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature
Summary
Documents the astonishing 2009 theft of an invaluable collection of ornithological displays from the British Museum of Natural History by a talented American musician, tracing the author's years-long investigation to track down the culprit and understand his motives, which were possibly linked to an obsession with the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying
Tone
Writing style
Biography type
contains biographical information
http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/bookUI
10638371
Cataloging source
VALP
Dewey number
364.16/28598
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • plates
Index
no index present
Literary form
non fiction
http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
True
Target audience
adult
http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/titleRemainder
beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century
Label
The feather thief : beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century, Kirk Wallace Johnson
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Content type code
  • txt
  • sti
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent.
  • rdacontent.
Control code
000062894788
Dimensions
23 cm.
Edition
Large print edition.
Extent
483 pages (large print), 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Form of item
large print
Isbn
9781432853174
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
n
Other physical details
illustrations (some colour)
Specific material designation
large print
Label
The feather thief : beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century, Kirk Wallace Johnson
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Content type code
  • txt
  • sti
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent.
  • rdacontent.
Control code
000062894788
Dimensions
23 cm.
Edition
Large print edition.
Extent
483 pages (large print), 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Form of item
large print
Isbn
9781432853174
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
n
Other physical details
illustrations (some colour)
Specific material designation
large print

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