Home Taxidermy or Pleasure and Profit - A Guide for Those Who Wish to Prepare and Mount Animals, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, Etc., for Home, Den or Office Decoration

by Albert Burton Farnham

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Genres: Nonfiction

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Farnham, Albert Burton 1870-

Reviews

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

As any hunter or fisherman knows, the price of preserving a trophy has risen drastically. This book is a short course on how to mount your game, gird, or fish yourself at how saving hundreds of dollars.

[Jack Spavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a quick look at common taxidermy techniques from the 1940s, but isn't as in-depth as it could be, so the aspiring taxidermist will have to experiment and make up a lot of their techniques.

Some parts are kind of horrifying to read, such as the parts about preserving skins with powdered arsenic to protect against insects, or buying pileated woodpeckers at the markets in Washington DC.

There isn't much here that can be used today. The water/salt/alum mixture for preserving hides is still practical but there are easier ways to do it nowadays. Making forms from excelsior is good for small specimens but this book doesn't have very detailed directions for that.

Overall it's amusing to read and get an idea of the history of taxidermy, but don't expect to use much of what you learn.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ameture writing but by a man who clearly has passion for what he does. He focused more on large mounts. Not quite what I was looking for. Took a highlighter to relevant parts for later.