The Origin and Evolution of Life. On the Theory of Action Reaction and the Interaction of Energy. SIGNED BY HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN.

OSBORN, Henry Fairfield [BURNHAM, John B.]

Published by New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1923.

About this Item

Frontispiece, xxxi, 322 pp; 135 figs; 2 tables Original cloth. Gilt spine lettering is dull. Rear cover is unevenly sunned. Lightly foxed. Good. Sixth printing in July 1923 (originally published in September 1917). SIGNED BY HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN TO JOHN B. BURNHAM: "To John B. Burnham/ With the appreciation/ of/ Henry Fairfield Osborn" (see photo). "John Burnham was an influential proponent of wildlife conservation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He joined the staff of 'Field and Stream' in 1891 and wrote articles in support of game laws and game preserves. An enthusiastic hunter, he was tasked with reforming the game laws of New York State between 1904 and 1915. From 1911 to 1928 he was president of the American Game Protective and Propagation Association, which lobbied for Federal legislation protecting wildlife populations. He also worked with the Audubon Association and the government to establish a treaty with Canada to protect migratory birds" Today the American Game Protective and Propagation Association is known as the American Wildlife Conservation Foundation. In his autobiography Concession to the Improbable, the paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson wrote this about Osborn and his signature: "Osborn, nearing the end of a long and highly productive career, was a great man and fully conscious of that fact. His surprisingly naive and quite justified pride in his social and scientific prominence was resented by some out of their own fear of inferiority, but I found it amusing and indeed rather endearing. There are many anecdotes, and I will tell just one as a fair example. One day he came into my office to present me with a copy of his massive two-volume monograph on titanotheres. Across the flyleaf he wrote in his large and elegant hand 'To George Gaylord Simpson with the appreciation and best wishes of Henry Fairfield Osborn.' As this was in heavy, flowing black ink, I reached for a blotter, but he stayed my hand and said, 'never blot the signature of a great man' (p. 40)." The two-volume monograph by Osborn on titanotheres to which Simpson refers was published in 1929 when Simpson was 27 and Osborn was 72 (Osborn died in 1935).

Seller Inventory # 16779

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Origin and Evolution of Life. On the Theory of Action Reaction and the Interaction of Energy. SIGNED BY HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN.
• Publisher: New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1923.
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)