Guide to the Gardens and Aquarium-Regents Park, 32nd Edition, by Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S. for The Zoological Society of London, printed by Harrison & Sons. Ltd., Printers, St. Martin's Lane, London, UK, 1935,  maps drawn by R. B. Brook-Greaves — photographs by F. W. Bond — 130 pages — illustrated with 2 maps, and b/w photographs — measures: 5 7/16" x 7 1/8" — OCLC Number / Unique Identifier: 251217390

Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell’s Guide to the Gardens and Aquarium—Regent’s Park is both a practical visitor’s handbook and a compact portrait of London Zoo as it existed in 1935. Written for visitors to the Zoological Society of London, it introduces the history, purpose, and arrangement of the gardens before leading the reader through the grounds and their many departments. The guide explains where the principal houses, enclosures, ponds, aviaries, and aquarium are situated, while describing the animals on display and drawing attention to notable specimens, unusual behaviors, and the Society’s broader work in zoological study, conservation, and public education. As the thirty-second edition, it reflects a long-established tradition of official zoo guides, updated to represent the buildings, exhibits, and collections of the interwar period. 

The book is especially valuable today as a record of the zoo’s historical character. Its descriptions preserve an earlier style of zoological interpretation, when animals were presented not only as attractions but also as subjects for scientific observation and comparison. The two maps, drawn by R. B. Brook-Greaves, help reconstruct the layout of the Regent’s Park gardens, while F. W. Bond’s black-and-white photographs provide visual impressions of the animals, enclosures, buildings, and landscaped setting. At 130 pages, the guide offers considerably more than a simple list of exhibits: it is a guided tour, institutional history, and illustrated snapshot of London Zoo at a significant moment in its development.