Rare books rooms everywhere are filled to bursting, and the threshold for admission rises higher every year. That’s a shame, in a way, but it also means that minor treasures still lurk in the stacks, where even hoi polloi like me can take them home.
Consider this copy of Frank Chapman’s Autobiography, for example. If there is a more distinguished provenance for such a book, I couldn’t guess what it would be.
Along with a substantial collection of Beebe’s personal and professional papers, Princeton owns a goodly selection of his books, among them a number of genuine (and appropriately housed) rarities, among them classics of early natural history and some of Beebe’s own works. Autobiography of a Bird Lover is a mundane book in comparison, but there is a special excitement in holding this copy, an artifact that recalls two of the most famous explorers and scientists of the twentieth century.
