Gents:
I just received Safari Press' new book of large ivory. It is an absolutely fabulous book with many fine old photos of an Africa that will never be again. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone who likes Africa, hunting Africa, and elephant.
Hats off to Safari Press on this one.
Cal

Hey Cal,

You are speaking of AFRICA'S GREATEST TUSKERS by Tony Sanchez-Arino.

There are some reviews in the Books And Videos Of Interest forum here on AR. I agree, it's special. What number do you have?

Didn't know they were numbered. I checked and I have 329.
Cal

I just went to Safari Press and picked up the book today after seeing the posts.

Fantastic book!

I know the gentlemen pictured on page 181 with the "mystery" tusks. I'll have to find Tony at SCI and hook the two up so he can learn more about the tusks pictured. The gentlemen in the picture has also taken many hundred pound plus tuskers and I've seen his pictures of them from the 1960 through mid 1970's. He hunted for the hunt and not records so he never submitted them for a record.

Amazing times. I wish I was born earlier!

# 290
Excellent book
I wish Safari Press would go after some other hunting books in French and Spanish and Portuguese and get them translated and printed.
In today's technical age and capabilities - NO EXCUSES

Tuskers Of Yesterday

http://www.tuskersofafrica.com/tskmain/tskmy.htm

I see they list the "Magnificent Seven" from Kruger Park. If you are ever at the park they are a must see. We were absolutely amazed by them.

Dear Cal, Thanks for the kind words; We sold half of the limited edition before Xmas and a lot more at the Dallas Convention. So I think it will be sold out this year, definitely one of those books that caught the hunting public's eye!

As for translations of hunting classics in Spanish etc. We have tried this several times and despite what one might think with OCR scanning and Google translate it remains significantly more work than if an author submits to us a manuscript in Microsoft Word. In fact a LOAD more work. To give you can example we are now working on a revised, expanded edition of Tigrero by Siemel. We tried to OCR scan it, results 90% accurate, not good enough by a mile. We then sent it out to be keyed in, results 95% accurate but still loads of editorial elbow grease to get it straight. And that is an English book and we ended up using labor to do it, not computers. An additional problem with the translations is that we cannot know what the quality of the writing is before we go into a huge amount of work to scan it and then translate it. Enough said I think.

As for the hunter on page 181 in Africa's Greatest Tuskers; Sanchez thinks they are the tusks shot by Mr. Fall and said so in the text. I am not sure who the man in the picture is, possibly Mr. Fall. I have had several people give me opinions on these tusks, the biggest ever from the CAR. We are still not 100% sure. I would like to hear what Gwhjack thinks.

Ludo Wurfbain, Publisher Safari Press.

Hi Ludo:

The gentlemen, Pierre, in the photo is a very upscale gallery owner in Paris and avid safari hunter. I've been to his gallery several times in Paris and to his home for dinner. His gallery not only carries fine art but a collection of trophies from large tusks to "vintage" tiger rugs. It's a magical place to visit.

The tusks he's pictured with my have belonged to Mr. Fall and he was probably selling them for him. (It's legal to sell these types items in Europe but we as American's can't buy them.) Depending on when this picture was taken these tusks could have been taken by Pierre in C.A.R. but he told me he sold all his ivory long ago.

Pierre has showed me his old photo albums of his hunts from back in the day. He definitely has taken some 100lb plus tuskers mainly in C.A.R. There was a photo of him with some tusks that when I did the conversion from kilos to pounds the weight was about 150lbs. So these could possibly be his tusks. Only he would know for sure. It's been awhile since we have spoken but I could probably find out.


(Currently he has a pair of tusks in his gallery that are at 125lbs & 119lbs. taken in C.A.R. and another pair close to 100lbs that look to be from Tanzania from their shape.)

Wonderful book and I am not particularly a Sanchez-Arino fan. As I was reading the book, it occurred to me that bigger really is not always better in each person's opinion. Of all the elephant featured in the book, if I could have had the privilege of hunting just one I think it would have been the Biki River tusker (shot by Pedro Camps Salvat in South Sudan). Dark, stained ivory with phenomenal mass (22"+ at the lip both sides) that the tusks held almost to the tips. The picture of the elephant on the ground is amazing. The other picture looks like they tried to clean the tusks up, pity. Some amazing elephant featured in the book.

Thanks Ludo
I understand, too bad
There has to be some awesome stories out there