Written by the greatest comparative anatomist and osteologist of the 19th century, Richard Owen (1804-1892). The last plate, comparing the skeletons of the gorilla and man is larger, double-folded. The hand-coloured illustrations are by the renowned German-born natural history artist Joseph Wolf (1820-1899); the others by C. H. Ford, or F. Robinson. A dedication "to P. B. Du Chaillu from his friend the author" written in ink by Owen on the front free endpaper recto. Paul Belloni Du Chaillu (1831-1903) was a French-American traveller, zoologist, and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860's as the first modern European outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later the Pygmy people of central Africa. "His year of birth is variously given as 1831 (the consensus of modern scholars) 1835, or 1839. Accounts usually cite either Paris or New Orleans as his likely place of birth. A contemporary obituary quotes a statement made by Du Chaillu referring to 'the United States, my country by adoption, and ... France, my native land.' His entry in the 1901-1902 edition of Marquis Who's Who - which was based on information he supplied directly to the editors - says 1838 in New Orleans. His grave marker identifies his place of birth as Louisiana, and the year as 1839. Edward Clodd, Du Chaillu's friend, told the story differently in his memoirs. Clodd mentioned New York as another claimed location, but asserted that Du Chaillu's true birthplace was the French Indian Ocean island territory of Île Bourbon (now called Réunion). He further claimed that du Chaillu's mother was a mulatto woman. In 1979, historian Henry H. Bucher presented evidence to back Clodd's view, including records of Du Chaillu's father. Bucher argued that Du Chaillu, as a member of the European scientific community, would have tried to obfuscate or conceal the family history that would have labelled him a quadroon. In the 19th century atmosphere of scientific racism, great apes and Sub-Saharan Africans were often considered to both have small cranial capacity, and thus be innately unable to achieve civilization; Du Chaillu's credibility as a scientist and explorer would have suffered as a result. Indeed, comments in a letter by Du Chaillu's contemporary, the ethnologist of Africa Mary Kingsley, indicate that at least some scientists who thought poorly of Du Chaillu knew of his ancestry or other discrediting information about him" (Wikipedia). Ironically, Richard Owen was a leading figure among those who believed in the superiority of "white" Europeans over other races. Included: two letters written by Du Chaillu, viz., one to Owen, dated Feb[ruar]y the 13th 1861. In this four pp. letter we find the following quote: "I am glad to know that your concluding memoir on the osteology of the Gorilla will soon be out" However, in reality it would take another four years to be published. In this letter, Du Chaillu stated that he wanted to ask his publisher, John Murray, to send Owen a copy of his work, Explorations in Equatorial Africa (1861), which was the first to described the habitat and habits of the gorilla in great detail. read more