Handbook of Birds of the Western United States, Florence Merriam Bailey, 1917, VG

Bailey, Florence Merriam. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917.

English, Fifth Edition, Revised, Very Good, HC, 8vo, 7 1/2" x 5," 574 pp., including illustrations, Appendix, Addenda, and Index.

ISBN: N/A

Brown cloth-covered boards with black lettering on front and spine. Illustration of a bird printed on front in black ink. Printed by the Riverside Press of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Covers have moderate rubbing and slight wear to extremities, else clean and intact. Binding is slightly loosened but still strong and holding. Pages have light to moderate age toning, else clean and intact. Replete with black-and-white illustrations, namely, 33 full-page plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and over 600 in-text cuts. Printed six-inch ruler on back pastedown. Early birding field guide about birds of the Western United States by the noted American ornithologist and nature writer, Florence  Merriam Bailey (1863-1948). Bailey came from a family of scientists and took an interest in ornithology at an early age. She attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts where she co-founded one of the first Audubon Society chapters. Through the Audubon Society chapter at Smith College, she advocated for banning bird feathers in women's millinery. Bailey also wrote many field guides about North American birds with a general audience in mind and is credited for helping popularize the birding movement.