Free downloadable e-books

Title: Extinct and vanishing mammals of the old world.
Author: Francis Harper.
Publisher: American Committee for International Wild Life Protection, New York.
Publication date: 1945.
Language: English.
Copyright: Public domain.
Source: Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/extinctvanishing00harprich.

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This book consists of a relatively brief introduction which explains how the information has been collected and points out the great variety of factors which have caused the disappearance or increasing scarcity of many species of mammal in the Old World. It contains a chronological list showing the approximate dates (generally to a half-century) of disappearance for each continent separately. The greater part of the book consists of an account of many species arranged under Orders. Some of these species have disappeared or are in grave danger of doing so. The many illustration are by Earl L. Poole.

Title: Extinct Birds.
Subtitle: An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those Birds which have become extinct in historical times - that is, within the last six or seven hundred years. To which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction.
Author: Walter Rothschild
Publisher: Hutchinson & Co., London.
Publication date: 1907.
Language: English.
Copyright: Public domain.
Source: Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/extinctbirdsatte00roth.

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This wonderful and informative book covers globally extinct and rare birds as well as hypothetical extinct species which include bird taxa which existence are only based on written or oral reports or on paintings. The accounts of the extinct bird taxa are based on Walter Rothschild's lecture 'On extinct and vanishing birds' published in the Proceedings of the 4th International Ornithological Congress 1905 in London. Subsequent authors like Errol Fuller were influenced by Walter Rothschild's reference work. Fuller published an eponymous book in 1987 with a foreword written by Miriam Rothschild and also used color plates from Rothschild's work. Only 300 copies were published in 1907 at Hutchinson and Co. in London. All copies are registered and personally signed by Walter Rothschild. The 45 colour paintings and 4 black and white sketches are by John Gerrard Keulemans, George Edward Lodge, Henrik Grönvold, Frederick William Frohawk, and Joseph Smit.

Title: Extinct Monsters.
Subtitle: A popular account of some of the larger forms of ancient animal life.
Author: Henry Neville Hutchinson.
Publisher: Chapman & Hall, London.
Publication date: 1896.
Language: English.
Copyright: Public domain.
Source: Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/extinctmonstersp96hutc

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This is the fourth edition of this book. Mr. Hutchinson aims to popularize paleontology, and he gives us a story of the life and times of the sea scorpions, dinosaurs, mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, great irish deer, moa, Steller sea cow and many others extinct animals. With illustrations by J. Smit and others. The illustrations show early attempts to put flesh on bones from extinct animals such as dinosaur bones and present them as living animals.

Title: Extinct monsters and creatures of other days.
Subtitle: A popular account of some of the larger forms of ancient animal life.
Author: Henry Neville Hutchinson.
Publisher: Chapman & Hall, London.
Publication date: 1911.
Language: English.
Copyright: Public domain.
Source: Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/extinctmonstersc00hutc

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The is actually a 'new' (at that time) edition of the book 'extinct monsters' with illustrations by J. Smit, Alice B. Woodward, J Green, Charles Knight and others. Some species of the former book have been omitted and others have been added. Mr. Hutchinson aims to popularize paleontology, and he gives us a story of the life and times of extinct animals, like sea scorpions, ancient salamanders, dinosaurs, mammoths, giant sloths, moa, dodo and many others.

Title: A hand-book to the marsupialia and monotremata.
Author: Richard Lydekker.
Publisher: Edward Lloyd, Limited, London.
Publication date: 1896.
Language: English.
Copyright: Public domain.
Source: Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/handbooktomarsup00lydekk

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The volume which Mr. Lydekker has written is an old but still valuable book that can still be useful to students, scientists and everyone else who is interested in these animals. Besides living masupials, it also describes some now extinct species. Especial care has been bestowed upon the plates. Those originally published in " Jardine's Naturalist's Library" were very well executed, and in the present issue the whole of the animals figured have been re-coloured from actual specimens in the British Museum.

Title: Lost and vanishing birds.
Subtitle: Being a record of some remarkable extinct species and a plea for some threatened forms.
Author: Charles Dixon.
Publisher: John Macqueen, London.
Publication date: 1898.
Language: English.
Copyright: Public domain.
Source: Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/lostvanishingbir00dixo

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With ten illustrated plates by Charles Whymper.

Title: The dodo and its kindred.
Subtitle: Or the history, affinities, and osteology of the dodo, solitaire, and other extinct birds of the islands Mauritius, Rodriguez and Bourbon.
Author: Hugh Edwin Strickland & Alexander Gordon Melville.
Publisher: Reeve, Benham and Reeve, London.
Publication date: 1848.
Language: English.
Copyright: Public domain.
Source: Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/dodoitskindredor00stri.

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This rare book covers the dodo, the Rodrigues solitaire and some other birds (not all are considered valid species nowadays). It contains several accounts of these birds in the original languages and its English translations. It contains 15 plates with many black and white drawings and between the texts 9 wood engravings.

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