The Ecology of a Summer House
Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984. First edition. Hardcover. Inscribed on the front free endpaper: "To Joe Allen, Vincent G. Dethier, June 25, 1984." Uncommon signed, with no other copies available as of this writing. A book that portrays the flora and fauna as its thrives from June to December around Dethier's coastal bungalow in East Bluehill, Maine. From the jacket: "A summer house has an ecology all its own--its own cycles of temperature and humidity, its nuances of light and shadow, its varied nooks, crannies, and textures. It is occupied by more living things that its human tenants realize." Dethier was a professor of zoology at U Mass Amherst and a pioneer in the study of plant-insect interactions; his book Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos, won the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing in 1993, the year he died. Octavo in tan cloth boards, gilt lettering to spine, tan endpapers. Black and white illustrations by Abigail Rorer. Suggested reading list at rear. Very good with light foxing to text block faces and faint ghosting to the front free endpaper. About a dozen pencil check marks scattered in the margins. In a good or better jacket with sunning to spine that drifts onto the front panel's top edge; one small puncture along spine on front panel and a few spots of foxing along spine on rear panel. Page number notations in pencil to top of rear flap (and one notation in blue pen). Very good / Good. Item #2288
ISBN: 0870234218
Price: $375.00 save 5% $356.25