How to tell the Birds from the Flowers. A Manual of Flornithology for Beginners. Nature Series No. 23.
San Francisco: Paul Elder and Company, 1907. 19.5x15.2cm: 28pp. First Edition. Grey paper-covered boards over mustard paper-covered spine. Black titling and illustration to front, with an additional illustration to rear. Boards a tad darkened and soiled with some areas of discoloration and rubbing. Spine ends and corners gently nudged, with some exposure. Small area of paper loss to spine tail. Paper starting to split at top of rear joint. Internally clean, although pages toned primarily along edges. Brentano’s bookseller ticket affixed to rear pastedown. A lovely copy with a delightful publisher’s error, having been bound backwards and upside down. One of our favorite books to have in stock with its clever verses and illustrations comparing birds and plants. Very Good.
This work by renowned physicist Robert Williams Wood offers a humorous take on the early 20th-century “nature fakers” controversy, sparked by William S. Burroughs and Theodore Roosevelt. With playful, tongue-in-cheek rhymes, far-fetched comparisons, and even a nod to numbered nature series, Wood satirizes the earnestness of nature writers of the time. A favorite:
The Plover and the Clover can be told apart with ease,
By paying close attention to the habits of the Bees,
For ento-molo-gists aver, the Bee can be in Clover,
While the ety-molo-gists concur there is no B in Plover.
The book proved popular enough that Wood wrote a similar book called Animal Analogues (Denatured Series No. 24) in 1908, along with adding 21 new verses and woodcuts to a revised 1917 edition of How to tell the birds from the Flowers.
Best known for his pioneering work in optics—especially in infrared and ultraviolet photography at Johns Hopkins—Wood was a true polymath. He also made contributions to ultrasound research and dabbled in science fiction writing.
Price: $150.00
Item #10685