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[SEAL BREEDING] Kotikovoe khoziaystvo [i.e. The Northern Fur Seal Breeding]

Boytsov, L.

Moscow: Vneshtorgizdat, 1934. Item #502

195 pp. 20x14,5 cm. Original illustrated wrapper. Fine condition.

First and only edition. One of 2000 copies. Very rare.

A very interesting and unique in its kind publication on the northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus). The title of the book suggests that the content is about the arti cial breeding of seals on industrial scale but in fact that idea was only born in 1920s-30s and was never quite put into practice. Instead the book is a detailed economical, biological and historical account of the seals themselves, and its history of the interactions with human from the rst spotting of the rookery on Bering island in 1742 to the seal hunting in the 20th century. In the preface author states that the fur from the seals has the perspective in becoming available for the average Soviet household. Through the book the seal hunting on Commander islands (USSR) is compared with the hunting on Pribilof island and Robben Island by USA and Japan. The author tries to prove the necessity of commercial breeding of the seals in USSR claiming that it will allow to grow the population to 1 men seals only on Commander islands. The book features the statistics on most aspects of seal life as well as the photos of the slaughter and the manufacture of the furs.

In 1957 the international pact for the protection of fur seals were signed that illiminated all the attempts to breed them artificially.

The only copy located at the Library of Congress.

Price: $750.00