reptiles

Hardcover. University of Chicago Press, 1st, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 481 pages. A portrait of the timber rattlesnake, its place in America's pantheon of creatures and in our own frontier history--and of the heroic efforts to protect it against habitat loss, climate change, and the human tendency to kill what we fear. Taking us from labs where the secrets of the snake's evolutionary history are being unlocked to far-flung habitats whose locations are fiercely protected by biologists and dedicated amateur herpetologists alike, Levin paints a picture of a fascinating creature: peaceable, social, long-lived, and, despite our phobias, not inclined to bite. The timber rattler emerges here as emblematic of America and also, unfortunately, of the complicated, painful struggles involved in protecting and preserving the natural world. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York , Dodd, Mead & Company, 1st, 1962, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, 55 pages. Green cloth cover with gilt lettering and design. Some wear to edges and spine. Dust jacket has some wear to edges and spine, with very slight foxing in one corner. Endpages are green paper with illustrations. Includes a notes section, explaining the importance of the ancient Latin poem "Batrachomuomachia," which, when translated into English, also reads "The Battle of the Frogs and Mice," and was a parody on "The Iliad," estimated to be written nearly 300 years after Homer's lifetime. An interesting combination of an ancient text and a children's tale. Inside is nice and bright, clean, and contains many beautiful b&w illustrations drawn by Fred Gwynne throughout.

Hardcover. New York, Harper & Row, 1st, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 64 pages. Hardcover. Color illustrations throughout. Dust jacket price clipped, still glossy, some slight tanning from age. Some light foxing to edges, pages unmarked. Binding tight. Spine straight.

Hardcover. New York, Harper & Row, 1sr, 1967, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Good, 64 pages. Hardcover. Color illustrations by Janet Chenery. Dust jacket with $1.95 price at top right corner of inside flap. Light foxing to front and rear endpapers, and some pages. Clean, unmarked text.