Dian Fossey

An extraordinarily scarce and pristine First Edition, First Printing hardcover of the 1983 landmark book Gorillas in the Mist, signed “Best Wishes to Barclay, / Dian Fossey” in fine black ballpoint at the bottom of the Acknowledgements section. Since Fossey was murdered just two years after its publication, signed copies of this book are excessively scarce and rarely come onto the market. Clean and tight, in fine condition throughout with only minor toning on edges; fine original dust jacket with barely noticeable shelf wear. In clean Mylar protective sleeve.

Dr. Barclay Hastings, to whom the book is most probably inscribed, was a veterinarian at the London Zoo, and worked with Fossey at Karisoke Research Center, a remote rainforest camp nestled in the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda. In 1988 Dr. Hastings, on behalf of Gorilla Doctors, the mountain gorilla veterinary project based in Rwanda, assisted the Digit Fund in opening a veterinary laboratory at Mount Visoke to provide the gorillas with medical care while studying their health problems.

One of the most important books ever written about our connection to the natural world, Gorillas In The Mist is the riveting account of Dian Fossey’s thirteen years in a remote African rain forest with the greatest of the great apes. Fossey’s extraordinary efforts to ensure the future of the rain forest and its remaining mountain gorillas are captured in her own words and in candid photographs of this fascinating endangered species. As only she could, Fossey combined her personal adventure story with groundbreaking scientific reporting in an unforgettable portrait of one of our closest primate relatives. Although Fossey’s work ended tragically in her murder, Gorillas In The Mist remains an invaluable testament to one of the longest-running field studies of primates and reveals her undying passion for her subject, and remains the best-selling book about gorillas of all time.

Fossey was murdered under still-uncertain circumstances likely related to her uneasy relationship with Rwandan locals who saw her as a threat to the gorilla-related tourist and exportation industry.