HI:
Got in this sad news:

Dear friends

Please excuse this round-robin email, but I am very sad to inform you
that Christopher Helm died last Saturday, after a long and courageous
battle against emphysema and, latterly, cancer. He would have been 70
next week.
The end was relatively swift and pain-free.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be made, and I am in the process of
compiling an obituary. If anyone would like any further information,
please get in touch.

Christopher had been retired from publishing for some years now, though
he remained passionately interested in it. We met regularly to discuss
books and birds. We did our usual January bird race in the Dungeness
area just two weeks ago, and though the weather was poor, we got a
respectable tally. The highlights were a brilliant views of a flock of
Smew (one of Christopher's favourite birds), and a female Black Redstart
which Christopher found outside his conservatory, moments before I
picked him up.

I am of course pleased to say that Christopher's name will live on on
the spines and covers of a great many bird books, the latest of which is
the mammoth Birds of Northern South America which he and I signed up 10
years ago. This is indeed a fitting legacy.

Best wishes

Nigel
--
Nigel Redman
Commissioning Editor (Natural History)
Christopher Helm/A & C Black, 38 Soho Square, London W1D 3HB







--
Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA USA
A.K.A.:Birdbooker
\"Rallidae all the way!\"