A Selection of Important Manuscripts relating to Cherry Kearton
Including an unpublished Autobiography

A Selection of Manuscripts relating to Cherry Kearton

Manuscript 1 - an unpublished and extraordinary typewritten manuscript autobiography of Cherry Kearton, with various annotations in ink throughout. 22 sides, with many anecdotes from his early life and school days, including the death of his mother, his grandfather's faith, his early working life, meeting Oscar Wilde, the genesis of his brother and his working and publishing relationship, his first camera and technical improvements he made to cameras, the use of Dallmeyer Telephoto lenses, problems he experienced when he began photographing wildlife and the use of camouflage and dummys in getting his shots, his work photographing at theatres in Drury Lane that he did not wish to have credited to him, experiences working with European royal families, a long account of exploits filming wild life in central Africa in 1909 'through the enthusiasm created in me by President Roosevelt', an account of how he began taking photographs and his first cameras and a comprehensive list of near death experiences; including booking passage on the Titantic and then subsequently missing the boat, there is also accounts of trups in Bourneo, an account of his service in the First World War.

Manuscript II - Cherry Kearton: Animal Lover, a type written manuscript, published as an article/eulogy in Zoo magazine 1940, authored by his nephew and Richard Kearton's son, Cherry Kearton Jr. 5 sides, discussing and celebrating Kearton's extraordinary life from the perspective of his nephew

Manuscript III - Caged with a Tiger, 1910, a typewritten unpublished manuscript with annotations in ink in Kearton's hand, describing Kearton's successful conquest to capture the first ever moving images of a wild tiger in the Jungles of Mysore.

Manuscript IIII - Man Versus Beast c.1910 - A typewritten manuscript account written by Kearton describing meeting 'Wrinkled Westerner Buffalo Jones' after a lecture in New York. The meeting resulted in the pair travelling to Nairobi via London, specifically to the Great Rift Valley to camp and for Kearton to film Buffalo Jones efforts to lasso all manner of animals, for the 1910 film 'Lassoing wild animals in Africa'

Manuscript IIII - "In Town Tonight" a typewritten manuscript transcript from a radio interview given by Mrs Ada Kearton to Lionel Gamlin on the popular radio show to promote the release of her new book 'Under African Skies' 1941, 2 sides

Manuscript IIIII - a typewritten manuscript with Kearton's annotations in ink listing his full bibliography c.1938

Provenance: From the estate of Cherry Kearton.