Photographer, collector, diarist, and writer of books **Peter Beard** has fashioned his life into a work of art; the illustrated diaries he kept from a young age evolved into a serious career as an artist and earned him a central position in the international art world. He was painted by**Francis Bacon**, painted on by ** [Salvador Dalí] **, and made diaries with **[Andy Warhol]**; he toured with** Truman Capote** and **the Rolling Stones**, created books with **Jacqueline Onassis** and **Mick Jagger**-all of whom are brought to life, literally and figuratively, in his work. As a [fashion] photographer, he took _Vogue_ stars like **Veruschka** to Africa and brought new ones-most notably **Iman**-back to the U.S. with him.

His love affair with natural history and wildlife, which informs most of his work, began when he was a teenager. He had read the books of **Isak Dinesen** (Karen Blixen) and after spending time in Kenya and befriending the author, bought a piece of land near hers. It was the early 1960s and the big game hunters led safaris, with all the colonial elements Beard had read about in _Out of Africa_ characterizing the open life and landscape, but the times were changing. Beard witnessed the dawn of Kenya's population explosion, which challenged finite resources and stressed animal populations-including the starving elephants of Tsavo, dying by the tens of thousands in a wasteland of eaten trees. So he documented what he saw-with diaries, photographs, and collages. He went against the wind in publishing unique and sometimes shocking books of these works. The corpses were laid bare; the facts were carefully written down sometimes in type, often by hand, occasionally with blood.

Spilling out over the pages of this massive tome, Peter Beard's collages are reproduced as a group for the first time at the size they have always meant to be seen, some as foldouts**. Hundreds of smaller-scale works and diaries fill the remaining spreads-magnified to show every detail, from Beard's meticulous handwriting and old-master-inspired drawings to stones and bones and bits of animals pasted to the page. **Available in both Art and Collector****'****s editions, this opulent and beautifully crafted limited edition-complete with wooden stand - is a work of art in itself.**

**Features:**

* Comes with a specially fabricated wood book stand
* XXL-Format: 34.5 x 50 cm (13.4 x 19.7 in.)
* Main book: 200 pages of diaries and 294 pages of collages + 5 fold-outs
* Original essay by photo critic Owen Edwards
* Companion volume: PB2 image index with captions for all images from main book, personal photos and early work of the artist, interview with the artist by Steven M. L. Aronson , a facsimile reprint of Beard`s 1993 handwritten essay from the sold-out first issue of _Blind Spot_ magazine, extensive bibliography, and a list of exhibitions
* All color illustrations are color-separated and reproduced in Pan4C, the finest reproduction technique available today, which provides unequalled intensity and color range