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RJO’s Library: Monographs and Manuscripts

Dear Readers: Nearly everything in my library was destroyed in a fire.

[Image: Presentation copy of Louis Agassiz’s review of Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’]These items constitute part of the “special collections” area of my library and include presentation copies, association copies, and similar items of interest. They have little monetary value but may be of interest to collectors and students of natural history. Many other items from my general collection could be included here; this is only a sample. The principal subjects represented are systematics, evolution, ornithology, and New England natural history, as well as general literary works. The [Image...] links below will take you to images of many of the items listed.

RJO’s Special Collections: Monographs

  1. Agassiz, Louis.
    1860. [Separate reprint edition of Agassiz’s essay-review of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. Originally published in the American Journal of Science and Arts, 30: 142–154, July 1860.] [Image...]

    Ex Dr. Ch. Beck. Presentation copy, inscribed on front wrapper, “Dr Ch. Beck | from the Author.”

  2. [Agassiz, Louis.]
    1988. Lurie, Edward. Louis Agassiz: A Life in Science. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. [Image...]

    Inscribed to RJO on title page, “For Bob O’Hara — | Edward Lurie 8/17/89.”

  3. Austin, Oliver Luther, Jr.
    1930. Birds of Newfoundland Labrador. Cambridge: Nuttall Ornithological Club. (Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, 11.) [Image...]

    Ex Dick Eaton. Presentation copy, inscribed on front flyleaf, “To / Dick Eaton – | there are also Black-|backs in Labrador!! | O.L. Austin Jr.” followed by Austin’s famous running bird doodle.

  4. Bailey, Wallace.
    1955. Birds in Massachusetts: When and Where to Find Them. South Lancaster, Massachusetts: The College Press.

    Signed by Bailey on the title page. Inscribed on front flyleaf, “To C.T.H.S. — permanent | resident, but restricted | to North Cambridge. Seldom | met outside I.C. Parish. | W.”

  5. [Bailey, Wallace.]
    1972. Monomoy: National Wildlife Refuge, National Wilderness Area. South Wellfleet, Massachusetts: Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts Audubon Society.

    Ex John H. and Marjorie L. Foster, with their names and the date “10/14/72” on title page. Inscribed on front flyleaf, “John H and Marjorie L Foster | Wayne | Pa. | Presented to us in the livingroom of the living quarters | of Monomoy Light, Mass., on the 14 Oct ’72, by Wallace Bailey. | Included in the party were the Allen Morgans, the | Moultons, the Trainers and Priscilla Bailey. | (See page 48).” The inscription on page 48, in another hand, reads, “Best regards to | John & Marge | Wallace Bailey | Priscilla Bailey.” Noted Massachusetts naturalist Wallace Bailey contributed many of the photographs in the volume.

  6. Baldwin, S. Prentiss, Harry C. Oberholser, & Leonard G. Worley.
    1931. Measurements of Birds. Scientific Publications of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Volume II. (Contribution No. 17 from the Baldwin Bird Research Laboratory, Gates Mills, Ohio.) [Image...]

    PROVENANCE NOTES
    1. Ex Oscar Riddle (1877–1968), noted ornithologist and physiologist. Presentation copy, inscribed on front flyleaf, “Doctor Oscar Riddle | Compliments of S. Prentiss Baldwin | Dec 13 1933.”
    2. Inscribed in pencil on front pastedown, “From G. Schmidt, Leonia, N.J.”
    3. Ex Lawrence M. Bartlett, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with his stamp.

  7. Barbour, Thomas.
    1943. Naturalist at Large. Boston: Little, Brown & Company. (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book.) [Image...]

    PROVENANCE NOTES
    1. Signed on front flyleaf, “T. Barbour.”
    2. Inscribed in pencil on front flyleaf, “From Harold Walker – Christmas 1943.”

  8. Beston, Henry.
    1949. The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod. New York: Rinehart & Company.

    PROVENANCE NOTES
    1. Signed on front flyleaf, “Henry Beston.”
    2. Ex Ruby Sawyer, with her signature and date “1958” on front flyleaf.

  9. Chadwick, John.
    1970. The Decipherment of Linear B. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    PROVENANCE NOTES
    1. Ex Lydia Baumbach. Signed by Chadwick on half-title, with inscription in another hand directly under his signature: “from whom I acquired | my love for Linear B. | Lydia Baumbach.”
    2. Ex M.C.B. Gubbins with signature and date “May 1973” on half-title.

  10. [Coues, Elliott.]
    1873–1876. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. Four numbers: 16(1), May–June 1873; 16(2), June 1873–January 1874; 16(4), February–April 1874; 18(3), January–April 1876. [Image...]

    Ex Elliott Coues (1842–1899), the great ornithological anatomist, systematist, and bibliographer, with his signature on the front wrappers.

  11. Durrell, Lawrence.
    1973. Prospero’s Cell: A Guide to the Landscape and Manners of the Island of Corcyra. London: Faber & Faber.

    Ex Dorothy Fothergill. Presentation copy, inscribed on title page, “Inscribed for | Dorothy Fothergill | by | Lawrence Durrell | Corfu | 1976.”

  12. Francis, Robert.
    1976. Robert Francis: Collected Poems 1936–1976. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

    Signed for RJO on the title page at the Founder’s Day ceremonies, Jones Library, Amherst, 14 September 1980. Two numbered copied of Francis’ Founder’s Day talk are laid in.

  13. [Grinnell, Joseph.]
    1924. Dewar, John M. The Bird as a Diver: A Contribution to the Natural History of Diving Birds. London: H.F. & G. Witherby.

    PROVENANCE NOTES
    1. Ex Joseph Grinnell, founder of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at Berkeley, with his punning bookplate, “Inter foliis aves.” Also inscribed on front flyleaf, “Rec’d from Publishers” (in Grinnell’s handwriting?).
    2. Ex Grinnell-Miller Library, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, with their stamp and a pencil notation, “Sold, 1979.”
    3. Ex David J. Klingener, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with his inscription on the front flyleaf, “David Klingener | 1986.”

  14. Hay, John.
    1963. The Great Beach. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company.

    First edition, signed on half-title, “John Hay | Nov. 12, 1989.”

  15. Kricher, John.
    1988. A Field Guide to Eastern Forests, North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

    Signed for RJO on title page in Kricher’s Wheaton College office, January 2004, and inscribed on half-title, “To Bob O’Hara | with best wishes | and thanks, | John.”

  16. Kuhn, Thomas S.
    1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Second Edition, Enlarged. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [Image...]

    Inscribed to RJO on title page, “For Bob O’Hara | after a hot | systematics discussion | Tom Kuhn.” The inscription was written in the Romer Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology following a meeting of the Systematics and Biogeography Discussion Group. Kuhn and Gareth Nelson had been guests at the meeting.

  17. [Mayr, Ernst.]
    1939. Salomonsen, Finn. Moults and Sequence of Plumages in the Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus (Montin)). Copenhagen: P. Haase & Søn. [Image...]

    Ex Ernst Mayr, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. Presentation copy, inscribed on front flyleaf, “Herr Dr. Ernst Mayr | Mit freundlichen Grüssen | vom Verf.”

  18. [Mayr, Ernst.]
    1942. Cruickshank, Allan D. Birds Around New York City: When and Where to Find Them. New York: American Museum of Natural History. (American Museum of Natural History Handbook Series, No. 13.) [Image...]

    Ex Ernst Mayr, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. Presentation copy, inscribed on title page verso, “To Dr. Ernst Mayr | with cordial appreciation of | Roy W. Miner,” the chairman of the AMNH Committee on Popular Publications.

  19. Mayr, Ernst.
    1982. The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. [Image...]

    Inscribed to RJO on title page, “To Bob O’Hara | with best wishes | Ernst Mayr.”

  20. Miller, Lillian B.
    1972. The Lazzaroni: Science and Scientists in Mid-Nineteenth Century America. Washington, D.C.: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

    Presentation copy to RJO, inscribed at the National Portrait Gallery on the front flyleaf, “For Bob O’Hara | With best wishes | Lillian B. Miller | 1990.”

  21. Peattie, Donald Culross.
    1935. An Almanac for Moderns. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. [Image...]

    Includes T.L.S. dated 31 March 1937 from Peattie to Barnet Ruder of New York apologizing for a mixup in presenting the wrong copies of his books to Ruder and to a Mr. Miner. Also inscribed on front flyleaf, “Elmer W. Smith | XII-16-1942.”

  22. Pennak, Robert W.
    1953. Fresh-water Invertebrates of the United States. New York: The Ronald Press Company.

    First edition, ex Douglas G. Smith, Museum of Zoology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with his stamp on front flyleaf, and inscribed to RJO, “To Bob — With Best | Wishes | Doug S.” Smith went on to become the editor of the fourth edition of this classic manual: Pennak’s Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001).

  23. Ryan, Mark B.
    2001. A Collegiate Way of Living: Residential Colleges and a Yale Education. New Haven: Jonathan Edwards College.

    Presentation copy to RJO, inscribed at Universidad de las Américas on half-title, “For Robert O’Hara— | With great admiration for your grand contributions to ‘a collegiate way of living,’ and in celebration of your visit to Mexico. | Warmest regards, | Mark Ryan August 2001.”

  24. Shay, Jonathan.
    1994. Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character. New York: Atheneum.

    Ex Tim O’Brien, Vietnam veteran and author, whose work is quoted in the text. Presentation copy, inscribed on front flyleaf, “To Tim, | With great | respect and gratitude. | Jonathan.”

  25. Simpson, George Gaylord.
    1945. The principles of classification and a classification of mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 85.

    PROVENANCE NOTES
    1. Ex Hallam L. Movius, Jr., with his signature on the front wrapper. Movius (1907–1987) was a paleolithic archeologist and a curator in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.
    2. Ex Museum of Comparative Zoology Library, withdrawn 10 January 1984.

  26. Sober, Elliott.
    1988. Reconstructing the Past: Parsimony, Evolution, and Inference. Cambridge: The MIT Press. [Image...]

    Inscribed to RJO on front flyleaf, “June, 1990 | To Bob, with very | best wishes, | Elliott Sober.”

  27. Stevens, Peter F.
    1994. The Development of Biological Systematics: Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, Nature, and the Natural System. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Presentation copy to RJO, inscribed on front flyleaf, “With many thanks!! | Peter S.”

  28. Taylor, Edward.
    1939. The Poetical Works of Edward Taylor: Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Thomas H. Johnson. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Ex Donald E. Stanford, with his signature on the front flyleaf. Stanford was the editor of the next complete edition of Taylor’s poems, published by Yale University Press in 1960, and this is his working copy of the earlier Johnson edition, heavily annotated throughout.

  29. Wiley, Edward O.
    1980. Phylogenetics: The Theory and Practice of Phylogenetic Systematics. New York: John Wiley & Sons. [Image...]

    Inscribed to RJO on title page, “Bob, | Thank you for | buying this book. I | hope you find it | useful. Best wishes, | Ed Wiley.”

  30. Wright, Horace W.
    1909. Birds of the Boston Public Garden: A Study in Migration. Cambridge: The Riverside Press.

    Inscribed on front flyleaf, “Presented to the Norfolk Bird Club | by the author. | May, 1909.”

RJO’s Special Collections: Manuscripts and Ephemera

  1. Wharton, William P.
    1913–1965. Bird banding notebooks and related materials, 99 volumes. Groton, Massachusetts, and Summerville, South Carolina.

    William P. Wharton was a prominent American conservationist of the early twentieth century and a resident of Groton, Massachusetts, where he operated the Wharton Bird Banding Station for more than 50 years. These MS notebooks comprise Wharton’s banding records from Groton (81 volumes, 21 May 1913–11 November 1965) and from Summerville, South Carolina (18 volumes, 5 January 1926–16 April 1937). Also included in the collection are 188 postcards and similar notes recording returns of banded birds, as well as a few letters relating to recovered birds and a few reprints of Wharton’s published papers. Some items relating to Wharton’s assistant, Edwin A. Mason, are also included; Mason later became the director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary. [Also acquired were longs runs of Bird-Banding, the Bulletin of the Northeastern Bird Banding Association, Bird-Lore, and Audubon Magazine; see the separate Serials listing.]


© RJO 1995–2022