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

Kirk Wallace Johnson

Apr 2018 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

As heard on NPR's This American Life

“Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction, The Feather Thief contains many of the elements of a classic thriller.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

“One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever.” —Christian Science Monitor

A rollicking true-crime adventure and a captivating journey into an underground world of fanatical fly-tiers and plume peddlers, for readers of The Stranger in the Woods, The Lost City of Z, and The Orchid Thief.

On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins—some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them—and escaped into the darkness.

Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.

Ratings and reviews

The book is terrific. A historical account of the use of feathers and a focus on fly tyers. I tie flys and have been grandfathered some species furs that are no longer available. With that said I cannot phathom the illegal trade of feathers simply for the sake of authenticity. Shame. This book is cathartic for the author and he tries and succeeds for the most part on being open to others ideas. Buy the book, support the author, and life may be that little bit better for it.

I am probably inclined to like this book, however the story also makes me so angry. I earned my MSc degree studying specimens in a natural history museum, so I have an intense appreciation for their value. I am also a fly angler and tier; I was largely unaware of the gross, greedy, and selfish underworld of the trade in rare bird feathers by individuals obsessed with recreating Victorian era Salmon flies. I hope this book helps increase the enforcement of wildlife trafficking laws.

Passion. History. Intrigue. Crime. Cover up. Obscurity. Law & Order. What more could you want in a modern-day whodunit with significant scientific ramifications.

About the author

Kirk W. Johnson is the author of The Fishermen and the Dragon and To Be a Friend Is Fatal, and the founder of the List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies, which he started after serving with USAID in Fallujah. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and on This American Life, among others.