Bats (Signed and Inscribed by Author to Dr. Joseph Grinnell). by Allen, Glover Morrill - 1939.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1939. First Edition, First Printing Cloth Near Fine in Good+ DJ 8vo (6-1/4 x 8-1/4), 368 pp including Index and Bibliography. This is an unique historical item, in exceptionally good condition. Book is NEAR FINE, all pages tight and unmarked, some slight tanning on the page block edges, bound in a near fine cover of green cloth with gold type, in a chipped pictorial DJ (Good Plus), now archivally repaired in a Bro-Dart protective cover. A true collector's item -- the landmark book on bats, written by one giant of Zoology and given to another -- inscribed on the first flyleaf by the author -- Curator of Mammals at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology -- to Joseph Grinnell, Director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley, and the scientist who put forward the concept of "ecological niche," one of the fundamental organizing principles of nature. Grinnell could see the fauna of California under continual attack from expanding human population, and his views on wildlife conservation and protection became integral elements of the philosophy of the National Park system. The book was given in the last year of Professor Grinnell's life.