Ylla

Louis dipped into his almost unlimited store of animal knowledge to write the text of Animals in Africa (1953) to accompany photographs taken by the incomparable Ylla - the pen name of Ylla Koffler. Even today, when so many lavishly illustrated coffee table books on animals are produced, few can rival her art with the camera of twenty years ago. Ylla of the bright eyes and infectious laugh will long be remembered by those who knew her all over the world, for she was truly international. Ylla had a bird-like quality, perching briefly in New York, Paris or London before flying off on photographic safaris to East Africa or India, where she was killed falling out of a jeep.