The Ecological Theater and the Evolutionary Play.

HUTCHINSON, G. E. [George Evelyn] (1903-1991):

Published by New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1965., 1965

About this Item

First printing of the First Edition. Frontispiece, xiii, 139 pp; 6 plates; 11 figs. Original cloth-backed boards. Signature of former owner on front pastedown, else Near Fine, in near fine dust jacket (unclipped). This book was reprinted in 1967, 1969, and 1973, eventually acquiring the ISBN of 0300005865 (not present in the 1965 first printing offered here). Searching for that ISBN on ABE or Amazon will produce a number of the obligatory, ABE-polluting 'imaginary' listings (Paperbackshop-US, A1 Books, Quartermelon; the list goes on), but the book is not in print at US$22.00 as Amazon claims (perhaps it was until very recently); a quick check of the Yale University Press Web site confirms that (in fact Yale has not kept it in print in any format). There are some actual copies of LATER printings on the market, but very few of the first. 'In the three lectures which give their title to this delightful collection of esays, the author of 'The Enchanted Voyage' and 'The Itinerate Ivory Tower' turns his attention to the influence of the environment on the course of evolution. The first lecture considers the nature of the terrestrial biosphere, both as a unique phenomenon on earth and as one of a class of possible spaces on other bodies; the second examines the nature of the ecological niche; and the third discusses some of the possible environmental interactions of a single species, emphasis being placed on the extremely recondite nature of the selective forces that act on man, as on other animals. Another of the pieces deals with the problem of the relation of natural beauty to works of art, particularly in the context of the similarities and differences apparent when natural history museums and art galleries are compared. The final essay, 'The Cream in the Gooseberry Fool,' is an account of the role of an English country clergyman and of the European magpie most in one of the most significant early discoveries of genetics' (Amazon).

Seller Inventory # 18298

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Ecological Theater and the Evolutionary Play.
• Publisher: New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1965.
• Publication Date: 1965
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine