THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN - Paul Bosman Anthony Hall-Martin

Human & Rousseau, 1994. Hardcover (brown cloth) with dustcover. 70 pages. Book size 315 X 410 mm.

Good condition. The dustcover has discolouring at the bottom (see image). Slight watermark at the endpapers' bottoms (10x1cm). The pages are clean but is not one hundred percent smooth at the top and bottom edges. The text and pictures are not really affected. The binding is good. Good research copy.

The Magnificent Seven is an artistic celebration of the great tuskers of South Africas Kruger National Park. These spectacular elephant bulls carried some of the heaviest ivory seen in Africa in recent years and became famous in the 1980s through articles and photographs in magazines and a series of paintings, release as limited edition prints by Paul Bosman, an artist with superb skill in portraying the African elephant. The paintings of the Magnificent Seven, Mafunyane, Shingwedzi, Kambaku, Joao, Dzombo, Ndlulamithi and Shawu, are beautifully complemented by cameos and striking pencil drawings not only of elephants but also of other mammals, birds and plants that share the habitat of the great tuskers. The text is by Anthony Hall-Martin, who for years studied the elephants of the Kruger and concentrated on learning more about the exceptional bulls with their incredible tusks. He writes easily and lovingly about the seven giants and their lives, depicting each one with his particular characteristics and habits. He also takes a look at the successors to the Magnificent Seven, bulls such as Mandleve, Phelwane and Tshokwane. The Magnificent Seven is a book for lovers of wildlife art, of elephants, and of Africa. It is the definitve reference source on the magnificent elephant bulls whose tusks are displayed in the Elephant Museum at Letaba in the Kruger National Park, and incorporates much fascinating detail of elephant biology, ecology and behaviour and the management practices of this great park.