Smith, Andrew, Sir (1797-1872).
Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. London: Smith, Elder and co., 1838-1849.
Andrew Smith, later Sir Andrew, was an officer in the British Royal Army, stationed in South Africa, and in the 1820s and 1830s he made some of the first zoological expeditions into the interior of southern Africa. In 1836, he met young Charles Darwin, when the Beagle landed at the Cape of Good Hope. Upon his return to England, Smith published an illustrated set on the zoology of South Africa, which appeared in five volumes between 1838 and 1849. The lithographs served as an introduction for many people to the fauna of the African savannas, and a number of the images are quite memorable. The artist, Gerald Ford, had a way of making his animals look exotic with very simple brushstrokes. Darwin continued to correspond with Smith (they shared the same publisher for their respective Zoologies), and later, in 1857, Darwin nominated Smith for Fellowship in the Royal Society of London.