author
Henry O. (Henry Ogg) Forbes
1851–1932
A restless Scottish explorer and naturalist, he journeyed through the East Indies, New Guinea, and Socotra, turning dangerous expeditions into vivid scientific writing. His work helped introduce distant landscapes, plants, and birds to readers in Britain and beyond.
2 Audiobooks
A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 1 (of 2)
by Henry O. (Henry Ogg) Forbes
A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)
by Henry O. (Henry Ogg) Forbes
About the author
Born in Aberdeenshire in 1851, Henry Ogg Forbes became known as an explorer, ornithologist, and botanist with a gift for combining field science with adventurous travel. After studying medicine in Edinburgh, he shifted toward natural history and spent years exploring parts of the Dutch East Indies, where he collected specimens and later drew on those experiences in A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago.
Forbes went on to work in museum leadership as director of the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand, and he later led or joined major expeditions connected with New Guinea and Socotra. His travels were not always easy or successful, but they earned him a reputation for energy, curiosity, and determination, and they produced important observations on plants, birds, and geography.
He died in 1932, after a long career that linked Victorian exploration with scientific collecting and popular travel writing. Today he is remembered both for the range of places he visited and for the way his books brought the natural world of remote islands to general readers.