The Amphibians and Reptiles of Wisconsin (Herbert Stoddard's copy)
Milwaukee, WI: Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, 1928. First edition. Softcover. An association copy: Herbert L. Stoddard's copy of this Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, Vol. 8, No. 1. With Stoddard's ownership signature at the top of the front wrap. A nice item because Stoddard got his professional start at this museum, where he worked as a taxidermist from 1910-1913 before he left for more apprenticeship at the Fields Museum in Chicago. He returned to the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee from 1920-1924, during which time he first began to spend more time in the field, shifting the course of his career toward research in the landscape (he went south to Georgia and Florida in 1924 to study bobwhite quail for the U.S. Biological Survey in Florida and Georgia). As the introduction notes, this book was the first serious publication on herps in the state in about forty years, since 1889. Includes species descriptions, a key, and 21 black and white photographic identification plates at rear.
Herbert L. Stoddard was an important pioneer of wildlife management. While Aldo Leopold is often cited as the founder or father figure of wildlife management, Leopold himself pointed to Stoddard, writing "Herbert Stoddard, in Georgia, started the first management of wildlife based on research." The two were good friends. Stoddard was a high school dropout who apprenticed himself to a taxidermist, began to work in a Milwaukee museum as noted, and eventually took to the field and went on to co-found the renown Tall Timbers Research Station in Florida. Ultimately he was known for his studies of bobwhite, the importance of fire to longleaf pine habitat, and bird mortality due to radio towers and what it reveals about migration patterns.
A large octavo or small quarto, perfect bound in gray wraps. Very good with sunning to spine and edges and some light creasing to wraps stemming from spine. A bump to upper right corner that effects the pages, but not so bad. A small tear running about an inch up lower spine. A fantastic item for an natural history or conservation enthusiast, particularly one from Wisconsin, which is known for its conservation. Very good. Item #1594
Price: $950.00 save 5% $902.50