Practical Taxidermy - A Manual of Instruction To The Amateur In Collecting, Preserving, And Setting up Natural History Specimens of All Kinds This comprehensive manual on early taxidermy was published in London in 1884, and is much sought after by modern taxidermists for its wealth of detail and historical content. The author was curator of the Town Museum, Leicester, and considered to be one of England's foremost taxidermists. He intended this book... "to be an introduction to a delightful art, which must be wooed with patient determination and loving pains until technical skill invests it with beauty." Read Country Books has now re-published "Practical Taxidermy" in its entirety, using the original text, woodcuts and engravings. Its 368 pages are divided into sixteen detailed chapters: - The Rise and Progress of Taxidermy. - Decoying and Trapping Animals. - Necessary Tools. - Preservative Soaps, Powders, etc. - Skinning and Preserving Birds. - Skinning and Preserving Mammals. - Modelling of Animals by Substitution of Clay, Composition, Plaster Casts, or Wax for Loose Stuffing. - Skinning, Preserving, and Mounting Fish. - Skinning, Preserving and Mounting Reptiles. - Dressing and Softening Skins or Fur as Leather. - Relaxing and Cleaning Skins - "Making-Up" from Pieces. - Colouring Bills and Feet of Birds, Bare Skin of Mammals, Fishes, etc. - Making Skeletons of Animals. - Egg Collecting and Preserving. - Cases, Mounts, Shields, Cabinets, Rockwork, Ferns, Grasses, Sea-Weeds etc, for "Fitting-Up." - Artistic Mounting, Modelled Foliage Screens, Lamps, Natural History Jewellery, etc. - Collecting and Preserving Insects. - The Pictorial Arrangement of Museums. Etc. This previously rare book will prove to be a valuable addition to the library of all dedicated taxidermists. Many of the earliest sporting books, particularly those dating back to the 1800s, are now extremely scarce and very expensive. Read Country Books are reprinting these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions. These editions are republished using the original text and artwork.