The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century

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One summer evening in 2009, twenty-year-old musical prodigy Edwin Rist broke into the Natural History Museum at Tring, home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world. Once inside, Rist grabbed as many rare bird specimens as he was able to carry before escaping into the darkness. Like it or not, the Edwin Rist episode is now an important, indeed instructional, part of ornithological and museum history. Maybe it’s not easy or even possible to work out where the next ‘threat’ might come from, but those interested in the history of bird collections, in natural history collections in general, or – more specifically – in the fate of trogons, cotingas, birds of paradise and other famous exotic birds should certainly read this book and have it to hand for reference. Indeed, the book is (to my knowledge) the best compilation and (almost certainly) most thoroughly complete account of what happened. Some mysteries remain unsolved, but one can take a few educated guesses about what happened and why, though that knowledge doesn’t bring about much satisfaction. The “art of fly tying”, notably salmon ties, is one exotic, so rare and esoteric to be unheard of unless you have either read this book or indulged in this obsessive hobby. The heist which Edwin Rist performed was audacious, and devastating...

An online forum recently posted a list of true crime without murder or violence. The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century would fit the bill as no murder nor physical harm befalls any person. Yet is any crime without a victim? Each reader would come up with a different list of who or what was affected by the events that are related in this book. Perhaps not as disturbing as the loss of life or a brutal rape or abuse, but still a story of devastating loss. Talk Show Halloween Costumes: Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, More Musicians Inspire Looks on Multiple Shows That said, once I settled down and pushed through the first few chapters, this was a WILD RIDE. I don't know what's more ripped-from-a-Hollywood-heist-movie: the fact that he broke into a museum to steal tens of thousands of dollars worth of taxidermied birds to sell online to fly fishing enthusiasts or the fact that he was doing it so he could buy a solid gold flute. This fascinating study of obsession begins by exploring the history of nineteenth-century British natural history collecting, the Anglo-American trade in feathers for women's hats, and Victorian salmon fly-tying, providing important context for the central, incredible tale of the 2009 theft of a million dollars worth of rare bird skins from the British Natural History Museum by Edwin Rist, an American student of the flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London. A third section of the book relates the author's quest to recover skins not confiscated by police during Rist's arrest in 2010. I highly recommend. Edwin Rist's story fascinated Johnson not just because it was such a bizarre crime, but because of the underground world it revealed, where other tiers (this is how it's spelled, which drives me BONKERS; I keep wanting it to be spelled "tyers") chase rarer and rarer feathers, many of which come from endangered bird species that are protected by international treaties. They scorn replicas, and venerate the Victorian "recipes" for the flies. Most of them do not even fish.The Feather Thiefhas been a favorite book of mine since its release in 2018,” said Bush Hager. “Kirk Wallace Johnson is a talented storyteller, and to work with him to adapt this wildly brilliant book for the screen is a dream.” Ahoy there mateys! This be one a true crime book about one of the greatest naturalist thefts of all time – of bird skins from the British Museum of Natural History. The reason – their feathers for use in fishing lures. Aye matey, ye did read that correctly. Fishing lures that aren’t even used to fish. Who would think that that would be a big business? Well this book looks into the theft of the birds by a 20 year old flutist studying in London. That part ended unsatisfactorily by me standards. But this is more than just about that crime. This also looks into the history of the feather trade – like how women’s fashion almost decimated song birds. It discusses the theory of evolution and how Darwin had a competitor in Alfred Russel Wallace, the bird collector of many of those stolen skins. It talks about the history of fly fishing – which is weirder beyond belief. Such historical forays were interesting. While the poor handling of the crime angered me beyond belief (through no fault of the author), the book kept me interested in topics that, before this book, I would have found boring. Did Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs 'Glow'? Extinct Archosaurs and the Capacity for Photoluminescent Visual Displays

This true story about the theft of a bunch of bird skins is one of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever CS Monitor Fascinating… An engagingly written story … you’ll be reading it when you should be doing other things i paper Rist, who claims to suffer from Asperger's syndrome is clever, educated, talented and skilled, and while his crime is not a violent one, he still did a horrible thing- and based on Johnson's exclusive interviews with Rist, he comes off as a greedy, little sociopath who never expressed the proper amount of remorse for his crimes. I’m afraid I did not find him to be sympathetic character at all- sorry, not sorry... For me, the most interesting part of this book was the discussion on birds and how knowledge about them led to scientific breakthroughs around sexual selection. I also enjoyed learning about what museums do with old bird specimens, and how they contribute to scientific progress.

Among the most unbelievable of such episodes is the 2009 event in which 21-year-old music student and obsessive feather collector Edwin Rist broke into the world-famous ornithological collections of the UK’s Natural History Museum and stole 299 bird specimens. I should make it clear that these were the rather flattened, prepared skins which are kept in storage drawers in the museum research collections, not mounted, life-like specimens of the sort displayed in public galleries. These feathers come from some of the rarest birds in the world, such as the Resplendent Quetzal, the King Bird of Paradise, the Flame Bowerbird, and the Blue Chatterer. Due to the rarity of the birds, the world came together and enacted a treaty to protect them, and other rare and endangered species. It became known as the "CITES" treaty (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). It's the basis for the laws prohibiting trade in ivory, for example, as well as many other animals and plants. The invention of the automobile put the huge hat industry to an end, since women were unable to hold their heads up with these atrocities. But in Britain, streams and rivers became inaccessible to any but the very rich, who owned the rights to the estates. And a fanciful product was created, by the imagination of one man and his book - the aristocratic George Kelson- which insisted upon outlandish bird feathers from lands afar. Mediawan, Sony Execs Predict A European TV Project Will Soon Be Same Quality As American But For Half The Cost - MIA Market

The story takes us to the times where explorers first started to travel overseas to discover and collect bird species for scientific research. It then explores how these discoveries lead bird feathers to be used brutally in fashion and hobbies like fly-tying. There's a lot of research and information without dumping it on us in a boring way. The book is written in a very engaging language, making the subject matter interesting somehow. Kirk Johnson is a good guy. I like him. His story before writing about the theft of museum specimens involves life in the US Agency for International Development, deployment in Iraq, and work on the rehoming of Iraqi refugees; his humanitarian interests and hard work in those areas is discussed, where appropriate, here and there in the book. This helps, I feel, ground things with a moral centre which never leaves any doubt that Johnson is honestly interested in doing the best, or right, thing. Which I feel is crucial, since there are occasions in the book where he reports discussions with people – Rist among them – who imply that theft from museums is ok and should even be encouraged. I was definitely fascinated with this crime, as well as reading once more about the limitless human cruelty towards nature. The Feather Thief is a riveting read. It also stands, I believe, as a reminder of how an obsession with the ornaments of nature — be they feathers, bird eggs or ivory — can wreak havoc on our scientific heritage NatureThe book is The Orchid Thief for the fly-fishing and birding set: worth its weight in exotic bird feathers, which you’ll learn are very expensive The Paris Review I don’t understand the concept of being an expert ‘tyer’ if you don’t even fly fish. Not only that, it is my understanding that the salmon can’t tell the difference anyway. It all seemed like such a tremendous waste. The history, however, that sets these events in motion is utterly fascinating, if a bit peculiar. There is a theft involved, of course, but Kirk Wallace Johnson does a fine job - enough to make me wince repeatedly - of bringing into focus the massacre of millions of birds simply because they're pretty. In the 1800s, wildly ostentatious plumed hats were the rage. Collecting beautiful (and dead) animals was en vogue. But today? Today? I'm not telling you why these beautiful feathers were stolen. Read the book!