The Way of an Investigator. A Scientist's Experiences in Medical Research. SIGNED BY WALTER B. CANNON

CANNON, Walter Bradford

Published by New York: W. W. Norton, 1945.

About this Item

229 pp. Original cloth. Small amount of discoloration on front cover (white patches). Corners of covers slightly worn. Upper half of front flyleaf was cut out (I do not know why) and a blank piece of paper was patched in. The inscription by Cannon is on the original bottom half of the front flyleaf. Ghost of tape on front pastedown. Good. First Edition. "A WARTIME BOOK" (so stated on the verso of the title page). SIGNED BY WALTER B. CANNON: "Inscribed/ with best wishes/ for Mrs. Ruth Thayer/ Walter B. Cannon/ July, 1945." Quoting passages relevant to the writing, publication, and inscription of this book from Elin B. Wolfe et al., "Walter B. Cannon, Science and Society" (2000): "The summer of 1944 was hectic but happy. . . . Cannon, free from itching or any manifestations of ill health, was at last able to get down to some serious writing. A large room had been built under the barn, where he could retire to work on the two books he had long had in mind. He began first with the autobiographical memoir that would become The Way of an Investigator. Mrs. Cannon, who took down his dictation on her typewriter, later recalled, 'W.B.C. had long wanted to record his experience as an investigator as a possible help to young men starting on the job of adding to the world's knowledge. He had watched his students struggling with the problems common to all searchers for the truth, and he was eager to put his experience at their service.' In a matter of weeks the memoir was finished. . . . On arrival in Boston [April 1945], Cannon entered the Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment--but not before he had mailed off the page proofs of the autobiographical memoir he had written. A few days later, his sister Ida wrote [the publisher] W. W. Norton, 'He is worried now about the index which he seems to feel must be done by the first of May. Personally I do not see how he can possibly do it. He is having chills and temperature and has a great deal of discomfort most of the time as he is not sleeping well.' But when Mrs. Cannon arrived, she helped him with the index and it was finished in a matter of days. . . . In the meantime, Norton had announced the publication of Cannon's memoir, The Way of an Investigator, which was chosen a principal selection of the Scientific Book Club. . . . By the end of June, a relieved Cornelia wrote her children, 'Father is so much better it would do your hearts good. . . . He has dictated lovely inscriptions in his books for friends, which I write and he painstakingly signs' " (pp. 514-515; pp. 518-520). MY COMMENT on what Cornelia Cannon wrote about inscribed copies of this book. I cannot speak to how many copies are like what she describes, namely with an inscription by her and a signature by Walter B. Cannon. But the handwriting in this copy is all by Walter B. Cannon.

Seller Inventory # 17516

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Way of an Investigator. A Scientist's Experiences in Medical Research. SIGNED BY WALTER B. CANNON
• Publisher: New York: W. W. Norton, 1945.
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)