Two-Volume 1st Edition Jean-Henri Fabre Treatise on Bees
New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1914. 8vo. Very Good / Very Good. Item #15223
Beautiful Two-volume 1st Edition J.H. Fabre set on Bees, with Volume I in the exceedingly rare dust jacket.
"Fabre is best known for his findings in the field of entomology, the study of insects, and is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology. Much of his enduring popularity is due to his marvellous teaching ability and his manner of writing about the lives of insects in biographical form, which he preferred to a clinically detached, journalistic mode of recording. In doing so he combined what he called "my passion for scientific truth" with keen observations and an engaging, colloquial style of writing. Fabre (translated) wrote:
'Others again have reproached me with my style, which has not the solemnity, nay, better, the dryness of the schools. They fear lest a page that is read without fatigue should not always be the expression of the truth. Were I to take their word for it, we are profound only on condition of being obscure.' "
'The Mason-Bees', 1914, was published as the first volume of two, the second being 'Bramble Bees and Others', published a year later. Both are uncommon and extremely scarce in original dust jackets.
Brown cloth with gilt titling to front boards and spines. Square tight bindings. Clean interiors, save for attractive bookplate to front pastedown of volume II and sporadic pencil marginalia thru the first 30 pages of Volume II. Mild edge wear. Spine of volume II lightly age toned.
Typographical dust jacket of Volume I with mild wear, including a small, pencil-sized chip to center of spine, not affecting any text. jacket presents handsomely in archival mylar.
Overall a handsome and superior set of a scarce title, particularly with a dust jacket.
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