Later issue of the first edition. Signed by the author. Original illustrated glossy paper-covered boards with titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. Illustrated endpapers with drawings by Katherine L. Howe. A better than very good copy, the binding firm, the extremities with a little light bumping and wear. The very lightly toned contents, with a previous owner's inscription to the blank reverse of the frontispiece as well as Carson's signature to the title page, are otherwise clean throughout. Complete with the rubbed, nicked and creased original dustwrapper that has a number of short closed tears to the edges.
Signed by Rachel Carson in blue ink on the title page. A poetically written and scientifically scrupulous book on the life history of the sea, ranging from the formation of the oceans to modern discoveries of deep-sea life. Carson's second book, winner of the National Book Award in 1952, and the volume that solidified her success as a writer. Carson's 1962 book 'Silent Spring' described the devastating effects of pesticides on the ecosystem and is credited by many for instigating the environmental movement that resulted in the banning of DDT in the USA. This example is a later [second?] printing of the first edition; the book correctly dated 1951 to the bottom of the title page but the boards glossy rather than matt. The dustwrapper has two reviews to the bottom and three bars to the top of the front flap.
Stock code: 23034
£600