Fascination: Schlangen und Echsen, Serpents et Lézards, Snakes and Lizards
Author / Editor / Creator: Fred Kundert
Publication Identification: Verlag L. Kundert (privately published by the author in Potters Bar)
Country: Switzerland
Publisher: Verlag F. Kundert
Publication location: Spreitenbach, Switzerland
Publication year: 1974
This was an expensive book, but it was only when I began researching its publication history that I discovered what a treasure I had acquired. Published in Switzerland in 1974, Fascination by Fred Kundert is a multilingual photographic work documenting snakes and lizards through extensive color photography and accompanying text in German, French, and English. Its presentation makes the material accessible to readers across several linguistic communities.
The publication also has documented significance within herpetological literature. Kundert’s work has been referenced in subsequent scientific publications, including research published in Tropical Zoology in 2005. Its inclusion in scientific bibliographies demonstrates that the book has served as a reference beyond its original audience.
The preservation of this volume contributes to documenting the presentation, photography, and dissemination of herpetological knowledge during the 1970s. Its publication by a small, author-named Swiss publishing operation also makes the documentation of its publishing history particularly worthwhile.
I have to give a tribute to Fred Kundert (1942-2012). Your work is remembered and lives on.
Here is an excerpt from, Sekretär: Beiträge zur Literatur und Geschichte der Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde (Sekretär: Contributions to the Literature and History of Herpetology and Terrarium Keeping, Supplement III (2015)), book, pp. 40-41:
“From 1971 to 2000, Brunner was the owner of the “Café Restaurant Vivarium Python” in Oberglatt, which he had built according to his own plans. Over the years, it became one of the region’s attractions.
The advertising poster was designed by Fred Kundert (1942–2012), who also used the image of an Indian python (Python molurus molurus) in his book Fascination (1974).
In carefully arranged terrariums, Brunner exhibited approximately 80 species of venomous and nonvenomous snakes from around the world, including all the major species of giant constrictors and all species of mambas.
In 1972, Brunner achieved the world’s first successful captive breeding of the green mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps).”
Here is the link in the original Swiss Standard German:
https://www.skn-reptilien.ch/download/sekretaer_supplement3.pdf