About Willard Price
Willard Price was a naturalist, best known for his Adventure books. Born in Canada, he grew up in America, and went on a number of expeditions for National Geographic.
Price was an interesting character and adventurer in his own right, and is best known for his series of fiction books called “the Adventure Books”. In addition he published non-fiction guides to some of the rare and unusual locales he visited.
“He should have had ‘Adventurer’ on his passport as occupation.”
Anon. Blogger
The author and natural historian
Willard Price (1887-1983) was born in Ontario, Canada and moved to the US in childhood.
As an editor and journalist he travelled extensively, writing a number of travel books. He had a focus on Japan, where he wrote a number of books between 1936 and 1946 and it has even been suggested he may have been spying for the US during this period.
In 1949 he changed direction and published Amazon Adventure, what was to become the first of the Adventure Series books. Designed to interest younger readers in nature and the environment by presenting them with heroes they could empathise with in these exotic locals, a generation of children grew up with these stories.
Continuing to work abroad, Price interspersed his adult writings with the Adventure books for the rest of his career.
The Adventure Books Bibliography
The adventures of the Hunt Brothers
Covering the adventures of Hal and Roger Hunt, “Take’em alive” men who work for their father John Hunt who captures animals for museums and breeding programs. These books are an interesting introduction to animals and wildlife for the younger reader. Price wanted to try to make younger readers more aware of the natural world, and most would say he succeeded admirably.
The Adventure Books in order
1949 – Amazon Adventure
1952 – South Sea Adventure
1954 – Underwater Adventure
1956 – Volcano Adventure
1960 – Whale Adventure
1963 – African Adventure
1964 – Elephant Adventure
1966 – Safari Adventure
1967 – Lion Adventure
1969 – Gorilla Adventure
1970 – Diving Adventure
1972 – Cannibal Adventure
1979 – Tiger Adventure
1980 – Arctic Adventure
Guardian Blog on Willard Price
“Price – a well-travelled natural historian, not an armchair fact-peddler – wrote with the expressed intention of “inspiring interest in wild animals and their behaviour”, introducing children to the strange, the savage and the beautiful in creatures under threat from humanity. ”
Guardian Books blog, 23rd January 2009
Non fiction books by Willard Price
These are often available second hand, although prices and conditions can vary wildly. He was widely acclaimed as an amusing author, able to work personal anecdotes and tales into his narrative, although given how much the world has changed many of the books are likely to be of historical interest rather than useful modern guides.
Notably one was published in the US in 1936 as “Pacific Adventure”, which might have given him the idea for the titles of his Adventure series.
A biography of Willard Price
A biography of the adventurer and author is now available for download from Amazon.com. Written by Contemporary Authors, it provides more details about the life and works of Willard Price.
Adventure Doubles on Amazon
Many of the books are now out of print, but an Adventure Doubles series has come out which has two of the books available in one edition.
Oddly these books are not sequential in the series, so where one book follows on directly from another, they may be in completed separate editions.