The End of the Game is Peter Beard's first and most important book, a powerful account of the gradual and relentless destruction of East African wildlife. Widely regarded as a seminal work on conservation, it also serves as a moving tribute to the devastating impact of loss and the fragility of life. In his introduction, Beard writes: 'A book about Africa is necessarily a book about many things, and this one hopes to be precisely that; a memory of the past, a record of the present, and an image of the future… Fifty years ago men had to be protected from the beasts; today the beasts must somehow be protected from man.'

First edition; 4to (279 x 202 mm, 11 x 8 in); black-and-white and colour photographs, drawings, and maps in offset and gravure, printed by C.J. Bucher Ltd., Lucerne; plain endpapers, grey cloth-covered boards, titles stamped in gold on spine and upper side, foxing to top edge and pastedowns, pages lightly toned, photo-illustrated dust-jacket printed in orange and black, foxing on verso, minor wear, near-fine; 256pp.

The Book of 101 Books pp170-1; The Open Book pp208-9; Auer Collection p448.