I am reading them again for the fifth time. I enjoy it more each time I read it. I wold love to go with him and Robin for a stalk!

every one I know was raised on them. The library where I grew up had seven or eight copies of each book.

I read the first one at the age of 11 I think.

I have visited his old home in Kaladungi. I have re-read his books at least 4 or 5 times.

Incredible when you consider that much of that hunting was before electicity in the villages or even battery powered torches were around.

Naki,

I guess we are around the same vintage...grew up on them.....

Regards

S

I finally managed to purchase the last Corbett book "Treetops" this month to make my collection complete. Nothing better to settle down and re-read one of Jim's books every now and again.

I also love Kenneth Anderson's books of hunting man-eater tigers and leopards in the south of India. He has a different writing style than Jim Corbett but very descriptive of the village life, countryside, animals and birdlife of his era. Unlike Jim and many of the English gentry, Anderson lived his life out in India after independence from Britain. His son Donald was an avid hunter too and also accounted for a few man-eaters. Just got another of Anderson's books recently and thoroughly enjoyed the read. A good photo of Donald facing a close man-eater leopard charge in this latest book, using his beloved .423" Mauser to dispatch the large and angry tom cat. I first found Corbett and Anderson's books in my high school library and these sparked my interest in dangerous game, in particular a fascination with old India and her man-eaters.

What's not to like? A REALLY good hunter who just happened to be a REALLY good writer who did unbelievable feats that will never be repeated again. Like I said...what's not to like?

Brett

I have only read "The Maneaters of Kumaon." Must read the rest!

Trop Pres,

I think I read "Maneaters of Kumoan" when I was in junior high school. Read it many times since.

I've had the set for years......got "My India" by chance when visiting Zimbabwe. Thereby rounding out the set.

I've even got some duplicates.

They'll always have a place in my book shelf.

First time in early seventies in Czech republic. Read them ( not kidding) ever since every long winter since then. Best there ever is. Unbelievable, I learned a lot from Corbett by starting to pay attention to animal voices and bird voices when other game was around or coming around . Learned to know when pigs, fox, deer or stags were coming way before I spotted them. Books were great teacher in my early days of hunting.
Still learning ...
Every kid that wants to hunt should read it, period.

I also recommend Kenneth Anderson if you like Corbett, in Nine Maneaters and a Rogue the scene when he is sat in the empty hut and a stray dog starts to growl is electric (he shoots the leopard at point blank range off the hip with his .405 lever action using a torch )

Just watched quite a few documentaries playing on our TV about Queen Elizabeth II and her life and times and there was a bit of old B&W archive film footage of her seated in the Tree Tops Lodge (Africa) dining room having a meal. It looked very much like old Jim Corbett sitting close to her. He told of his role as a guide to the Princess when she visited and stayed a night in the famous Lodge in his book Tree Tops published a short time before he died and how he had sat at the table with the royal party having a meal. Of course it was Jim who wrote the famous lines in the visitors book to the effect that a young girl climbed up into Tree Tops one day as a Princess and descended the next day as a Queen.

Amazing to think he finished his life in this way among the African game.

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
First time in early seventies in Czech republic. Read them ( not kidding) ever since every long winter since then. Best there ever is. Unbelievable, I learned a lot from Corbett by starting to pay attention to animal voices and bird voices when other game was around or coming around . Learned to know when pigs, fox, deer or stags were coming way before I spotted them. Books were great teacher in my early days of hunting.
Still learning ...
Every kid that wants to hunt should read it, period.

Excellent point. I started reading Corbett at about age 9 at a small school library in Ohio.

In those days, the suburbs were mostly open land covered with bush, grass and hollyhocks, and forest and river were just a few blocks away. It was easy to visualize yourself in the French and Indian War –– so one learned about wildlife without even thinking about it.

Read Anderson as well. But something about the way Jim wrote his books, most imaginary and exciting stories ever.
I will argue that till the day I die

Perhaps the thread could have been titled "who doesn't like Jim C`s writing`s.

I am willing to bet that there wont ever be a person come forward!

He is held in the highest regard by each and every hunter that has ever read his works. 10/10 say no more.

Please please please!

DO NOT mention Kenneth Anderson along with Jim Corbet!

Kenneth Anderson was a novelist. He never shot a single tiger or elephant himself. His son Donald has shot a few. When I was about 13 years old in the early 70s Don used to visit my dad to get his annual game license. Don is now in his late 70s and is a good friend of my brother. They go to wildlife sanctuarties together sometimes.

Every one of Jim Corbett's tigers and maneaters was gazzetted in the official district records. You will not find such authentication of any of Anderson's stories!

Yes Anderson's stories are good to read & have lots of anacdotes. But they are all fiction cleverly threaded with local facts.

Naki

I know you have posted similar comments about Kenneth Anderson before, with him being a novelist and a fraud and not a hunter let alone one of dangerous game, but I really find it hard to believe this when there seems to be evidence available that suggests otherwise. I would also find it hard to believe that his son Donald would become a big game hunter in his own right in the same area they lived in from quite a young age, without somehow his father Kenneth having the same affection for hunting and with some influence on him.

There are various photos of Anderson with trophies and his 405 Winchester along with some of the dispatched man-eater tigers and leopards published, long before photoshop was around. Would have to be one of the biggest frauds in the hunting arena if none of this actually happened. Why has nobody else ever exposed or questioned Anderson exploits?

Are you saying the quote from Wikipedia below is fiction and the government records do not exist?

"He is officially recorded as having shot 8 man-eating leopards (7 males and 1 female) and 7 tigers (5 males and 2 females) on the Government records from 1939 to 1966 though he is rumoured to have unofficially shot over 18-20 man eating panthers and over 15-20 man eating tigers. He also shot a few rogue elephants".

I wonder if a rift developed between Donald and his father and some untruths have been spread, only surmising, but over the years I have searched various articles and information on both Corbett and Anderson and have never seen even a hint anywhere that Anderson was a fraud as you are suggesting. Apparently he had a daughter too who now lives/lived in Western Australia. Might have been interesting to hear her side of the story!

I do not want to get into an argument on this. I just posted what I know and believe.

Anderson definitely shot leopards but not tigers and elephants.

Kenneth was probably European but his wife was Anglo Indian. Many British people & their descendents (some Anglo Indians) went into coffee and tea plantations. Others went into some sort of business (like Corbet was railway contractor). Many were 2nd or 3rd generation Inda born like Corbet.

It is not uncommon for the pupil to become a more famous hunter than the mentor. Jim Corbet accomplished much more than his older brother or other mentors.

Don Anderson is now around 80. He was hunting tigers in his 30s and early 40s. He was the Manager of the Binny mills (cloth mill owned by a british company).

Look at this. http://vineethviswanath.wordpress.com/tag/elephant/
This place is run by Mark Davidar who has been unwell recently. I have known Mark since I was a small child. Our dads hunted together in the 50s. This property of Marks now includes a section of land originally owned by Kenneth Anderson and it had a mud hut on it which I have seen in the late 60s / early 70s. Many of the places where Anderson claimed to have shot maneaters are around this area - 100 km radius. My dad was District Forest Offices and later Conservator of Forests in that and other parts of South India. There is no local record of such maneaters!

The point to remember is that many people living near jungle areas in those days had the opportunity to hunt most game. Some had opportunity to hunt tigers and elephants. But there are very few records of maneaters in South India - I mean across the 4 southern states as a whole & not just the small region that Anderson hunted (Western end of the Eastern Ghats).

Over 90% of maneaters in India have been from the Kumoan hills where Corbet hunted. A lot has been written about the reason for this high incidence of maneaters in that region - even in the last 30 years.

There are many books from the 1940 to 60s with exagerated hunting stories. Col. Kesari Singh is a notorious example. His book is a joke - he claims having hunted over 1,000 tigers and claimed sizes of 11.5 feet long (over the curves) etc.

Anderson's books were very readable and appeared authentic.

I too am not looking for any argument on the subject of Anderson, others can make their own judgement and conclusions.

While Corbett will always hold top spot for me, clearly greater than any other hunter anywhere, I still enjoy the adventures that many other hunters and writers have put into books.

And so do I eagle27. I don't think Anderson was that good as to write in such a details and not being true.
In those days, daily journals were everyday thing for most people ( literally fashion ).
Things will always be said and doubted till the end of times.
History is never kind unfortunately.

quote:

A good photo of Donald facing a close man-eater leopard charge in this latest book, using his beloved .423" Mauser to dispatch the large and angry tom cat.

CAN YOU POST THIS FOTO PLEASE?
:-)

Best wishes.

BH

Please?

Here you are, Donald Anderson taking out a man-eater with his Mauser 10.75 in a very close charge. They all marveled after the shot how the photographer, a school mate of Donald's, didn't get hit.

Corbett is easily one of my top three writers. His stories are riveting and I am left with vivid thought pictures of how his adventures ended. Along with Selous and a a couple of others, he is in a class of his own.