YLLA. - Lot 303

YLLA. Animals of Africa. Text by L.-S.-B. Leakey. Anecdotes and technical advice compiled by Michel Ragon. Paris, Revue Neuf / Robert Delpire, [1954]. Oblong quarto, publisher’s salmon-colored full cloth, title embossed on the spine. First edition of one of the most famous works by Ylla (Camilla Koffler), a pioneer of modern wildlife photography. Produced following her final trip to East Africa, this book brings together remarkable photographs of wild animals—zebras, giraffes, elephants, lions, rhinos, and even hippos—accompanied by a text by Louis Leakey, then one of the leading experts on prehistory and African wildlife, and technical notes compiled by Michel Ragon. Published a few months after the photographer’s tragic death—which occurred during a photo shoot in Kenya in 1955—the book serves as her artistic legacy and remains one of the great illustrated volumes published by Robert Delpire, a leading figure in French photographic publishing. Numerous black-and-white and color reproductions, the latter printed as inserts. Condition: binding slightly faded, some signs of wear and faint marks from old adhesive on the endpapers; interior in very fresh condition. A fine copy.