When I was still living in Brevard, the new Transylvania County Library building was completed. Not too long later, I went to an old book sale. I think I walked out (numerous trips of course) with about three boxes stacked with books. Methods in the Art of Taxidermy by Oliver Davie might be my favorite find. As you can see, it’s a pretty old book. I love the fact that I can look through something that was printed before my own grandmother was born, and not have it fall apart in my hands (though some pages are falling out). While the subject matter might be a little odd, the book is beautifully illustrated. Even just some detailing on fly sheets is really pretty.

But the best part of the book is the illustrations of the actual taxidermy, all drawn by Theodore Jasper. My favorite might be the elephant.

I’d been meaning to do something with this book for a while, but what finally got me to scan some pages was Chris Thomas’ site, Remember Paper. I went to high school with him at Darlington, and he’s obviously been working in design for a while now. Anyhow, Remember Paper is a great site that reflects on the printed page and different books and magazines. Some of it is not quite safe for work (or prudes), but I really like the site’s focus.

Hopefully once I take some time to get better scans of this book, I can have some nice prints made and then framed. I’d really like to have taxidermy illustrations on my wall.