Gerald Durrell Books in Order
Gerald Durrell has written 40 books, published between 1953 and 1993. The first book is The Overloaded Ark (1953) and the newest is Puppy Goes on a Picnic / Puppy's Field Day (1993). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 40
- Published
- 1953–1993
- Pages on record
- 4,590 in 25 of 40 books
- Reading time
- 77–115 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 4,590 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 25 of 40 titles with a page count on record.
Gerald Durrell was a British naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist and television presenter who wrote about collecting and keeping animals. Durrell's first animal-collecting trip to the British Cameroons was funded by an inheritance, and his wife Jacquie pressed him to write an account of it. The catalogue opens with The Overloaded Ark (1953) and holds 40 books to 1993, across autobiographical volumes, the Corfu Trilogy and the Puppy Tales for children. My Family and Other Animals (1956) and A Zoo in My Luggage (1962) are among them. Zoology, natural history, animal behaviour and travel are the recurring subjects.
How many Gerald Durrell books are there?
Gerald Durrell has 40 books, released between 1953 and 1993. They include 3 series and 12 titles listed outside any series.
Gerald Durrell Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 40 Gerald Durrell books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 119532221/4
- 219541921/4
- 31954–1/4
- 419551911/4
- 519562731/4
- 619562081/4
- 719581921/4
- 819612351/4
- 91962–1/4
- 1019641801/4
- 11The Stationary Ark1966 · confirmed 1/41966–1/4
- 121966–1/4
- 13The Donkey Rustlers1968 · confirmed 1/41968–1/4
- 14Rosy Is My Relative1968 · 222 pages · confirmed 1/419682221/4
- 1519692481/4
- 16Zoos1969 · confirmed 1/41969–1/4
- 1719711891/4
- 181972–1/4
- 19The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium / and Other Inimitable StoriesAutobiographical #131973 · confirmed 1/41973–1/4
- 2019741921/4
- 21The Talking Parcel / Battle for Castle Cockatrice1975 · 191 pages · confirmed 1/419751911/4
- 22My Favourite Animal Stories1976 · 176 pages · confirmed 1/419761761/4
- 231977–1/4
- 241978–1/4
- 251980–1/4
- 26The Mockery Bird1981 · 224 pages · confirmed 1/419812241/4
- 27Amateur Naturalist1982 · 320 pages · confirmed 1/419823201/4
- 281983–1/4
- 2919842051/4
- 3019861911/4
- 31The Fantastic Flying Journey1987 · 151 pages · confirmed 1/419871511/4
- 32The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure1989 · 96 pages · confirmed 1/41989961/4
- 33Keeper1990 · 32 pages · confirmed 1/41990321/4
- 3419901791/4
- 35Toby the Tortoise1991 · 32 pages · confirmed 1/41991321/4
- 3619922241/4
- 371993–1/4
- 381993–1/4
- 391993–1/4
- 401993251/4
Gerald Durrell series in order
The series linked below has its own reading-order page.
- Puppy Tales books in order 4 books
Gerald Durrell books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Autobiographical in order
21 books- 1. The Overloaded Ark
- 2. Three Singles to Adventure
- 3. The Bafut Beagles
- 4. The New Noah
- 5. The Drunken Forest
- 6. Encounters with Animals
- 7. The Whispering Land
- 8. A Zoo in My Luggage
- 9. Menagerie Manor
- 10. Two in the Bush
- 11. Fillets of Plaice
- 12. Catch Me a Colobus
- and 9 more in the table above
Corfu Trilogy in order
3 booksStandalone books
12 books12 Gerald Durrell titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Gerald Durrell Books in Chronological Order
By publication date, the Gerald Durrell books run from The Overloaded Ark (1953) to Puppy Goes on a Picnic / Puppy's Field Day (1993), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Gerald Durrell in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.
Do you have to read Gerald Durrell books in order?
You only need to read Gerald Durrell books in order within each series: the books listed here span 3 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Gerald Durrell
Start with Puppy Goes to the Zoo / Puppy's Wild Time (1993), the first Puppy Tales book. The earliest catalogued title overall is The Overloaded Ark (1953).
What is the newest Gerald Durrell book?
Puppy Goes on a Picnic / Puppy's Field Day (1993) is the newest Gerald Durrell book released so far.
Is there a new Gerald Durrell book coming?
No next Gerald Durrell book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Gerald Durrell has won
Wikidata records 1 award for Gerald Durrell. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Goncourt des animaux1993Won
Gerald Durrell at a glance
- Died
- Gerald Durrell died in 1995, according to Wikidata.
- Last book
- The newest book credited to Gerald Durrell on record dates from 1993.
- Release pace
- Gerald Durrell books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 4,590 pages across the 25 of 40 books with a recorded length, a median of 192 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Gerald Durrell books, 9 of 40, were published in the 1960s.
What the Gerald Durrell books are about
36 of the 40 Gerald Durrell books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: children's fiction is tagged on 8 of 36. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Children's fiction 8 of 36 books
- Zoology 8 of 36 books
- Wild animal collecting 7 of 36 books
- Animals 6 of 36 books
- Collection and preservation 6 of 36 books
- Natural history 6 of 36 books
- Zoological specimens 6 of 36 books
- Animal behavior 5 of 36 books
- Biography 5 of 36 books
- Travel 5 of 36 books
- Dogs 5 of 36 books