Field Guide to the Birds: Giving Field Marks of All Species Found in Eastern North America. by Peterson, Roger Tory - 1934

Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1934. First edition, first state with the date on title page and with "Bob-pumper" on index page 155. Octavo, original green pebbled cloth with numerous full-page plates by the author. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Phyllis Bergen with my compliments- a poor atonement for ruined eyesight Roger T. Peterson." The recipient Phyllis Bergen is thanked by Peterson in the preface of this volume. This book was most likely presented upon publication as a thank you to the recipient. Fine in a very good dust jacket with a chip to the spine and front panel. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world's greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars. "Many people have noted that Peterson changed the world because he made nature accessible to the general public. Before his Guide, bird watching was the province of the few, often done with bird remains in hand" (Eirik A.T. Blom).