The Feather Thief
Beauty, Obsession and the Natural History Heist of the Century
It turns out that—when it comes to nonfiction—I have a definite “type”.
I recently finished listening to The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson. The book focuses on the seemingly improbable story of Edwin Rist, a gifted flautist with a curious knack for the fringe art of fly-tying. Since tying the most intricate and prized salmon flies requires the availability of exceedingly rare bird feathers, twenty-year-old Rist engineers the theft of hundreds of rare bird specimens from the famed Natural History Museum at Tring. Among them were numerous presumably invaluable specimens collected by famed naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, for which Rist is eventually able, in fact, to command a market price.
Johnson deftly explores the robbery at the Tring, as well as the subsequent investigation—including his own work in tracking down the missing specimens. He also provides an interesting peek into a close-knit world of fly-tying, and the obsessive underpinnings that fuel the demand for rare plumage.
For the vast majority of readers outside the worlds of museum curation and fly-tying, the story—though interesting in all details—might sometimes feel a bit irrelevant and almost voyeuristic. But early on in the book, Johnson provides a nuanced and truly wonderful overview of the scientific contributions made by Alfred Russel Wallace, and the manner in which he co-discovered the theory of natural selection with his contemporary Charles Darwin. The extraordinarily prolific Wallace seldom receives his fair due, and Johnson’s treatment on this topic alone is well worth the read.
Save for the title, I knew nothing of The Feather Thief prior to firing up the audio book. And yet, I quickly realized the title was very much in the same vein as so many other reads I’ve enjoyed by similarly gifted writers: Winged Obsession, The Scent of Scandal, The Orchid Thief, and Stolen World. Each book similarly explores how an appreciation for natural treasures can—under the influence of obsessive tendencies and insular, like-minded communities—steer some individuals to commit crimes of surprising proportions.
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Voiceover music by Coma-Media from Pixabay