Mr Darwin's Shooter

Random House, Australia, 1998. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. Hardcover. 365 pages. *** PUBLISHING DETAILS: Random House, Australia, 1998. First Edition. This is the first Australian edition. *** CONDITION: The book itself is in very good condition and comes in good dust jacket. More specifically: Boards have no wear, rubbing or soiling. Dust jacket has moderate rubbing. Edges of dust jacket have light bumping. . Pages are reasonably tanned. *** ABOUT THIS BOOK: From one of Australia s most acclaimed authors, a dazzling and deeply imagined exploration of ambition, natural marvels, and scientific discovery, and one of history s most significant crises of faith. As a boy of thirteen, Syms Covington leaves his home in Bedford and goes to sea, passing into manhood as he sails the world, surveying Patagonia, and losing his virginity in the Pampas. Aboard the HMS Beagle, he enters the service of Charles Darwin as an energetic and precocious fifteen-year-old, and in the course of their voyages together he shoots and collects hundreds of specimens for his gent, specimens that become fundamental to the formulation of Darwin s theory of evolution. Now a crusty, eccentric, near-deaf old man, Covington has settled in Australia and is awaiting the arrival of the first copy of "On the Origin of Species." Beset by guilt over participating in a work that will shake the human world view to its foundations, he nonetheless wonders what part of himself might be reflected in Darwin s oeuvre. "Mr. Darwin s Shooter" captures its time with rare and dazzling skill, evoking an unforgettable but forgotten man at a watershed moment in history. *** Quantity Available: 1. Category: Fiction; General; ISBN: 0091836719. ISBN/EAN: 9780091836719. Inventory No: 18020005.. 9780091836719