A Trip to Pilawin, the Deer-park of Count Joseph Potocki in Volhynia, Russia

Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 71K words
Chapters: 8

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Trip to Pilawin, the Deer-park of Count Joseph Potocki in Volhynia, RussiaAuthor: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915,Language: English, Class: SK: Agriculture: Hunting sports, Release Date: Aug 20, 2015

Editor's review

This is a work of reportage by the English naturalist Richard Lydekker, recording the Pilawin deer park belonging to Count Joseph Potocki in the Volhynia region of Russia. With a zoologist's professional eye, Lydekker describes in detail the deer and other wildlife of the park—their forms, habits, and management—while interweaving observations on the local natural environment and the running of the estate. The book has both the scientific value of a natural-history record and the interest of a historical slice of late nineteenth-century Eastern European aristocratic hunting culture and wildlife husbandry. The style is typical Victorian natural-history writing: information-dense and closely observed, but slow-paced, better suited to readers with an interest in the history of zoology, hunting culture, or Eastern European estates who are willing to read slowly and attentively. As a public-domain ebook, it works well as research material or supplementary reading for lovers of nature writing rather than as casual reading for plot.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century natural history and zoological records
History enthusiasts studying Eastern European aristocratic estates and hunting culture
Slow readers who enjoy nature writing and animal observation essays
Students and scholars needing public-domain English historical sources for research citations

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers expecting tight plotting or adventure
Readers with significant difficulty reading English originals who rely on Chinese translations
Readers seeking modern wildlife conservation perspectives

Reading tips

Start with the table of contents and preface, then go to the animal chapters that interest you; there is no need to read straight through.
Jot down animal names and locations as you read, and use a map to understand Volhynia's geographical position.
Treat it as a historical source rather than popular science, and distinguish the author's observations from the prejudices of his time.
Read the English original slowly with a dictionary, one or two sections a day, to avoid information overload.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a work of reportage?

It is a work of natural-history reportage: Lydekker, as a zoologist, describes the deer, wildlife, and estate environment of the Pilawin deer park. It is not a novel and has no continuous plotline.

What background knowledge is needed to read this book?

Basic zoological knowledge and English reading ability are enough. Familiarity with nineteenth-century European hunting culture, Eastern European geography, and the natural-history writing tradition will make the author's perspective and the context of his time easier to understand.

Are the book's views still valid today?

Its observations of animal forms and behavior still have reference value, but its views on hunting culture and wildlife management carry clear limitations of their time. Read it as a historical document and keep a critical eye on passages involving the use of animals.

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About the author

Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915 Author

Richard Lydekker (1849–1915) was a British naturalist and popular science writer active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The library holds two of his works: A Trip to Pilawin, the Deer-park of Count Joseph Potocki in Volhynia, Russia, and Hertfordshire. The former records a visit to Count Potocki's deer park in Volhynia and reads as a natural-history travel account, while the latter is a county-topographical work. Though different in subject, both show his habit of weaving field observation and natural-history knowledge into plain, factual narration. Public information on his nationality, education, posts and life details is limited, and no existing profile is available in the library, so this entry describes his writing mainly through the themes of his works and avoids biographical speculation.