THE GAME-BIRDS OF THE COASTS AND LAKES OF THE NORTHERN STATES OF AMERICA. A Full Account of the Sporting Along Our Seashores and Inland Waters, with a Comparison of the Merits of Breech-Loaders and Muzzle-Loaders. by Roosevelt, Robert B - 1866.

New York: Carlton, Publisher, 413 Broadway, 1866.. 1866.. Fair. - Octavo, 7-1/2 inches high by 5-1/4 inches wide. Hardcover, bound in brown cloth. The front cover is detached. The spine has perished and is thus lacking. The covers are rubbed and faded with wear to the edges and corners. 336 pages, with an illustration listing the parts of a bird and relative measurements on page 139. An early book label dated 1866 is mounted at the top of the front pastedown and a previous owner's name is penned at the top of the front blank with another owner's name penciled on the front endpaper. The pages are toned and slightly darkened with some occasional foxing. The text block is cracked. A fair complete copy. <p>First edition.<p>There is much on shooting including the comparison of breech-loaders and muzzle-loaders.<p>The chapter on "The Jersey Coast" includes a humorous section on "Jersey girls and their ways" which bears witness to how things were not all that different back in the middle of the nineteenth-century: "Why is it that every one who visits New Jersey comes away with an ecstatic impression of Jersey girls that he can never forget?" ... "There are days in one's lifetime that should be celebrated as anniversaries; and if any gentleman has carried in his arms, and rolled in the sand, one charming Jersey girl in the morning, and has had another equally charming sit on his lap in the evening, he may look upon that day as never likely to repeat itself." ... "There was a hum of pleasant voices -- words like, 'Oh! Deb, we should not have got in;' 'Why, Mary, we may as well ride -- it's all in our way.' 'Now, Lib, don't say I'm married.'...."