City Critters

Meredith Press, NY, 1969. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. Inscribed on the title page: "They are here uninvited and often unloved--but great teaching material! Helen Ross Russell." On the font free endpaper, the original owner's name stamped in ink "("Thomas J. Rillo") is struck through and Russell has re-dedicated the book beneath it: "To Cliff Knapp." An early book about urban nature, and apparently scarce in hardcover, with no other copies currently available (there are some paperbacks from a 1974 edition). Illustrated by Marcia Erickson. Russell is an important mid-century environmentalist, an early female biologist-conservationist and promoter of environmental education. She was a professor of biology and chair of the science department of what's now Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. Many of her outdoorsy books were for young adults. Thomas R. Rillo was a prominent figure and professor in the emerging field of Environmental and Outdoor Education, as was Cliff Knapp--both wrote books on the subject, and Knapp probably studied under Rillo for his doctorate at Southern Illinois U before becoming a professor at Norther Illinois U. Knapp is known for *Trail Blazers: Early Naturalists Connecting with Nature*). An interesting trail of association. A near fine book with a little wear to edges in a very good dust jacket with a prominent chip to lower front panel and some loss to spine crown and tail. // Wood (+) River (=) Books specializes in ecology, natural history, nature writing, the environment, and environmental literature, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions.