Search Results: Natural History from Johnson Rare Books & Archives

Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Signed by the author on the title page. The first of two books written by Mary Farrand Rogers Miller (1868-1971), the American writer, naturalist, and educator. A graduate of Cornell University, she was married to noted landscape architect Wilhelm Tyler Miller, with whom she moved to Los Angeles in 1920. Later in life, after experience hearing loss, Miller became active in deaf education and advocacy. Octavo: 241 p. with 16 half-tones and numerous line engravings. Original green cloth binding, with a half-tone inset on the front panel and dark green titles. Just the faintest hint of foxing to a few prefatory leaves; else very good or better.

Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1967. First edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Frontispiece photograph, with illustrations by Ernest Thompson Seton. Collection of previously unpublished notes, essays, diary entries, poems, and articles by Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946), compiled by his second wife Julia, that serves as a sort of informal biography of the beloved writer and illustrator best known for his popular books of animal stories. Seton was also a prominent naturalist in his time and, as one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, wrote the first Scout Manual. Inscribed and dated in the year of publication by Julia M. Seton on the half-title. A crisp, near fine copy in a lightly edgeworn dust jacket. Inscribed by Author.

San Diego, California: Sunbelt Publications, 1999. First edition. Soft cover. Fine. 337 p. Foreword by Edgar Wayburn, M.D., Honorary President, Sierra Club. Textual photographs, illustrations, and maps, including the color folding map at the rear. Presentation copy, inscribed by Wheat to distinguished Southern California historian Doyce B. Nunis, Jr. on the half-title. Original glossy paper wrappers. A fine copy. Inscribed by Author.

Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1896. Hardcover. Very good. An offprint of O.C. Marsh's landmark publication, which was issued as part of the Sixteenth Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey. Among the most prominent American scientists of the late 19th century, Marsh was a bona fide giant in the field of vertebrate paleontology. From the 1870s to the 1890s, he competed with rival paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in a period of frenzied expeditions known as the Bone Wars, which sparked the public's interest in dinosaurs, leading to continued fossil excavation in North America in the decades to follow. Among Marsh's legacies are the discovery or description of dozens of new species, influential theories on the origins of birds, and the collection of Mesozoic reptiles, Cretaceous birds, and Mesozoic and Tertiary mammals that now constitute the backbone of the collections of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution. Imperial octavo: p. 133-414 with… Read More

London: John Murray, 1872. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. First edition, second issue with the "htat" misprint on the first line of page 208. The author's third major work of evolutionary theory, following On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871). Initially intended as a chapter in The Descent of Man, The Expression grew in length and was published separately in 1872. This book concerns the biological aspects of emotional behavior, and Darwin explores the animal origins of such human characteristics as the lifting of the eyebrows in moments of surprise and the raising of the upper lip in an aggressive sneer. Octavo: vi, 374 p. with 7 heliotype plates (3 folding), 21 textual figures, and 4 p. publisher's ads. Original green cloth binding, with gilt stamping, blind-stamped borders, and black endpapers. Some marginal creasing (not affecting the images) and minor foxing to the folding plates. Period previous owner's pencil signature to the top of the title page. The hinges are… Read More

London: John Murray, 1890. Second Edition. Hardcover. Very good. The author's third major work of evolutionary theory, following On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871). Initially intended as a chapter in The Descent of Man, The Expression grew in length and was published separately in 1872. This book concerns the biological aspects of emotional behavior, and Darwin explores the animal origins of such human characteristics as the lifting of the eyebrows in moments of surprise and the raising of the upper lip in an aggressive sneer. Octavo: viii, 394 p. with 7 plates and 21 textual illustrations. Original green cloth binding, with gilt titles and blind-stamped borders. Light foxing to the prefatory and concluding pages, with a period previous owner's ink signature and date to a preliminary blank leaf. Though the front hinge is cracked, the binding is quite sound. The spine is darkened just a touch, with some rubbing along the extremities; else very good.

Pasadena, California: Many Moons Press, 2001. Trade paperback. Very good. This copy is inscribed by Pomeroy on the title page, with a holographic note from her laid in. 148 p. with textual photographs. Octavo. Original paper wrappers, with the prospectus laid in. Mild dust staining to the bottom edge, with some light sun fading along the spine; otherwise very good.

Dunwoody, Georgia: Norman S. Berg, Publisher, 1973. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Limited to 500 copies. "When John Muir was a student in the University of Wisconsin he was a frequent caller at the house of Dr. Ezra S. Carr. The kindness shown him there, and especially the sympathy which Mrs. Carr, as a botanist and a lover of nature, felt in the young man's interests and aims, led to the formation of a lasting friendship. He regarded Mrs. Carr, indeed, as his 'spiritual mother,' and his letters to her in later years are the outpourings of a sensitive spirit to one who he felt thoroughly understood and sympathized with him. These letters are therefore peculiarly revealing of their writer's personality. Most of them were written from the Yosemite Valley, and they give a good notion of the life Muir led there, sheep-herding, guiding, and tending a sawmill at intervals to earn his daily bread, but devoting his real self to an ardent scientific study of glacial geology and a joyous and reverent communion with… Read More

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1964. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Compiled over the course of 31 years, this is as detailed and authoritative a zoological taxonomy as you can find, with the animals divided by genus, and profiled by size, weight, common and latin names, range, unique physical and biological attributes, and behavioral traits. Profusely illustrated. Quarto, two volumes. Black marker over previous owner's address on the front flyleaf in both volumes; otherwise a very good set, housed in the publisher's slipcase.

New York: The Century Co, 1907. Hardcover. Very good. Presentation copy, inscribed by John Muir to Alice Spencer Jones on the front flyleaf. Jones (1868-1938) was the niece of hardware millionaire John Daggett Hooker, a friend and patron of Muir's in his later years. Most of his best writing from the period around 1910 was accomplished in the garret of Hooker's home on West Adams Street in Los Angeles. It was during this time that Muir struck up a friendship with Alice Spencer Jones, who he referred to as "Hark-the-Lark". Letters from Jones to Muir are included in the John Muir Papers at the University of Pacific. Muir's first book, consisting of fifteen previously published articles, some dating from as early as 1875, which aside from some very brief detours to the Coast Range and the southern San Gabriels, concern the flora, fauna, and geology of the Sierra Nevada. As recorded here, Muir (1883-1914) theorized that the granite face of the Sierra had been shaped and scoured by glaciers, an idea… Read More

New York: The Modern Library, 1936. Hardcover. Near fine/Very good. First edition thus, with "First Modern Library Edition, 1936" on the copyright page. A Modern Library "Giant", brining together for the first time in one volume the two principal works of Charles Darwin (1809-82). Octavo: xvi, 1000 p. Original blue cloth binding, with silver stamping. A near fine copy in an especially nice dust jacket with some mild toning and wear along the extremities. Scarce.

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1889. Hardcover. Later printing, with additions and corrections from the sixth and last English edition. Arguably the most significant work of science in the Western canon, The Origin of Species first appeared in 1859, positing a theory of evolution in which living organisms change through a series of random permutations, which are 'naturally selected' insofar as they are adapted to their environment. Octavo, two volumes: xxvi, 365 p. + v, 339 p. with the publisher's ads at the rear. Original brown cloth binding, with gilt titles and black and blind-stamped decorations. Some sparse pencil marginalia, with erasures to the each front flyleaf. Bookplate and a small address label to each front pastedown. The spines are darkened just a touch, with some general shelfwear.

San Francisco and New York: The J. Dewing Company, Publishers, 1888. Hardcover. Very good. Folio, two volumes: 478 p. with over 600 etchings, photogravures, wood engravings, etc. In one-half morocco over pebbled cloth bindings, with decorative gilt stamping, five raised bands, and beveled edges. A closed tear to p.45-6 in the first volume has been neatly mended. Small ink stamp ("Dolgeville Academy") to the bottom of a few leaves in each volume. The leather has been professionally refurbished. A very good set. Kimes 174; Zamorano Select 87. "In 1887 James Dewing and his associates conceived the idea of publishing the grandest California pictorial book of the nineteenth century, which would make money while taking advantage of the growing fascination with California and the West. Copying the format and title of William Cullen Bryant's hightly successful Picturesque America, they selected John Muir (1838-1914) as editor and a group of artists including Thomas Hill, William Keith, Julian Rix, and… Read More

Williamsburg, Massachusetts: Cheloniidae Press, 1984. First Edition. Vellum. Near fine. Issued simultaneously with the Regular Edition of 150 copies and the Deluxe Edition of 60 copies, this is number VI of 15 State Proofs signed by Alan James Robinson. Printed by Harold P. McGrath at Hampshire Typothetae. The Van Dijck Monotype was set and cast by Michael and Winifred Bixler. Illustrated with 16 wood engravings by Alan James Robinson. Hand-bound in full limp vellum at Gray Parrot's Bindery in Easthampton. This State Proof is accompanied by a one-quarter vellum over linen chemise housing 14 state proofs of the etchings, 28 working proofs, 3 states of the frontispiece portrait, and a rejected print, each signed by the artist, along with an original pencil sketch by Robinson. Accompanied by the string-bound prospectus, also signed by Robinson. Housed in a one-quarter vellum over linen clamshell box, with gilt stamping. Just a hint of foxing along the extremities of the clamshell box; else near fine.… Read More

New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1913. First Edition. Wraps. Very good. This book is one of the most elaborate monographs ever devoted to a single order of mammals. By its publishing the outlook on the primates has been altered in a way that can be appreciated by those only who have for some time been actively occupied in the study of monkeys. In its 1,351 quarto pages may be found a complete review of the work done in the past by the author himself, his contemporaries and predecessors. It contains descriptions of all the known species drawn up by one person from direct examination of the specimens in all the principal museums of the world. Finally the series of photographs reproduced in 111 of the plates is so well selected and so fine in quality that it might be said almost to exceed in general usefulness the specimens hitherto existing in any one museum" (Science, Vol. XXXIX, No. 992). Elliot (1835-1915) was the first curator of zoology at the Field Museum in Chicago, as well as one… Read More

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955. Hardcover. Very Good. 18 plates, with 90 illustrations. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1955. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Original blue cloth binding, with gilt titles. The spine is a trifle sun faded; otherwise very good.

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1889. Hardcover. Good. Third edition, with an appendix by Prof. T.G. Bonney, D.Sc., F.R.S., F.G.S. 344 p. with three folding plates and the publisher's ads. Octavo. Original brown cloth binding, with decorative gilt and black stamping. An ex-library copy with minimal markings: a bookplate to the front pastedown and a small numeric label to the spine. Minor creases to the folding plates. The top edge is a trifle dust stained, with some mild foxing to the fore-edge. There is also a small bit of rubbing to the corners and tips. From the library of the esteemed American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002). In his essay "Worm for a Century" from the collection Hen's Teeth and Horse's Teeth: Further Reflections in Natural History (1983), Gould argued that this, Darwin's first book on a specific subject, is essential to understanding his theoretical approach: "This book is about coral, but it is also about historical reasoning. Vegetable mold formed fast enough… Read More

Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Account of Muir's journey from the University of Wisconsin to his first summer in the Sierra, consisting of his journal of the walk ending in San Francisco, an excerpt from a letter detailing his first excursion in California to Yosemite, and an essay expressing his appreciation for the low hills of the great Central Valley. Octavo: xxviii, 220 p. with a frontispiece and 12 plates. Original green cloth binding, with a color reproduction of a painting by Miss Amelia M. Watson inset on the front board and titles in white. The spine is lightly faded, with a little bit of rubbing to the white titles and some minor wear to the corners and tips; otherwise very good. Kimes 340.

London: John Murray, 1892. Second Edition, Revised - Fourth Thousand. Hardcover. Very Good. First published in 1868, this book began as an expansion of the first two chapters of On the Origin of Species (1859): "Variation under Domestication" and "Variation under Nature," and it developed into one of his largest works; Darwin (1809-82) referred to it as his "big book." The first volume deals with the variations introduced into species as a result of domestication, through changes in climate, diet, breeding, and an absence of predators. He began with an examination of dogs and cats, comparing them with their wild counterparts, and moved on to investigate horses and asses; pigs, cattle, sheep, and goats; domestic rabbits; domestic pigeons; fowl; and finally cultivated plants. The work is a masterpiece of nineteenth-century scientific investigation, and a key text in the development of Darwin's own thought and of the wider discipline of evolutionary biology. Octavo, two volumes: xiv, 473 p. + x, 495… Read More

New York: Abbeville Press, 2008. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Lavish celebration of India's incredible natural abundance, featuring more than 2,000 stunning full-color images. Thick quarto. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket, housed in the publisher's slipcase - as new, still sealed in the original shrink wrap.