Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America

Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1857. First Edition. Folio (33cm). Three parts in two volumes, complete. Rebound with original brown cloth laid down over boards, titled in silver on spines; endpapers renewed; vol. I: [lii],452dpp; vol. II: [vi], [451]-[644]pp; 34 lithographs, including 3 in color. Stamp of Divinity School Library, Harvard, to title page of vol. II. Bookplate of noted zoologist James G. Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian. Ownership inscription in vol. one of "Theodore Lyman / November 1857 / Brookline." A straight set with numerous small white stains to cloth of vol. II and a few small spots near spine of vol. I, some plates foxed, occasional spots of foxing through text but largely clean: Very Good. Agassiz was a prominent zoologist and geologist, who held positions at the University of Neuchatel and Harvard. He made significant contributions to the study of fish, extinct species, and glaciers, though this research has more recently been overshadowed by his unfortunate beliefs in creationism and scientific racism. This particular title discusses animal classification, North American Testudinata (turtles and their extinct relatives), and turtle embryology, with lifesize illustrations of turtle embryos and babies.

Theodore Lyman III was a student of Agassiz's at Harvard, and a founding member of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Anatomy. Later on he worked as a state Fish Commissioner, and was one of the first to promote the use of fish ladders. He was also a military staff officer during the Civil War, and a Representative from Massachusetts. He inherited a farm in Brookline, MA from his father, Boston mayor Theodore Lyman II.