About this Item
vii, 435 pp; 32 plates (Frontispiece = plate I)]. Original cloth. Top & bottom of spine very slightly frayed. Corners of covers slightly worn. The covers show some soiling/smudging. Because of the cream-colored cloth, such soiling is common with this book, when the covers have not been protected by the dust jacket. Spine darkened. NOTE: I can send photos of the binding, upon request. There are glue stains on the verso of the frontispiece. Very Good. First American Edition (there were also London and Amsterdam imprints in 1932). Collected, translated, and edited from his printed works, unpublished manuscripts, and contemporary records, by Clifford Dobell . Published on the 300th anniversary of his birth. "Reveals many new facts about the man, and includes the best bibliography" (annotation to Garrison-Morton 67). COPY OF LORANDE LOSS WOODRUFF, with his signature on the front flyleaf and embossed name stamp on the title page. OFFERED WITH: Autograph, Letter, Signed from Clifford Dobell to Lorande Loss Woodruff, 7.III.1927 (see photos), in which Dobell refers to his researches on Leeuwenhoek. Dobell writes: "When I publish my book on his protozoological & bacteriological researches--if I ever do [which Dobell did 5 years later in the book offered here]--I think you will be very much astonished at the extent and variety of his discoveries. You call your own work, I see, 'amateurish'. But mine is equally do. I spend my days in the laboratory, and can study history only as an amateur. My only comfort is--as yours is too, I imagine--that it is better to be an amateur historian and a professional protozoologist (for such purposes), than a professional historian and an amateur protozoologist! One can't do everything." Also with the front panel of an envelope addressed by Dobell to Woodruff (with a 1941 postmark). About Lorande Loss Woodruff: "Although he wrote a number of articles on the history of science and some on more general biological matters, Woodruff's original scientific investigations all concerned the ciliate Protozoa. . . . Woodruff wrote a dozen notes and papers on the history of biology, of which the most important was on Sir John Hill, the pre-Linnaean author of the name Paramecium. Woodruff had an admirable collection of the works of this versatile Figaroesque Englishman, pharmacist, physician, actor, dramatist, botanist, zoologist, editor, and man-about-town. . . . From 1909 onward, Woodruff gave a very successful graduate course on the history of biology, which often attracted students from outside his own department and was for many years the only instruction in the history of science given in Yale. Though Woodruff's influence as a protozoologist was great and his contribution enduring, it is possible that his real significance was as a teacher. . . . In retrospect, Woodruff's career seems unspectacular but extremely useful. A true servant of science and education, his contributions are built solidly into the fabric of our culture but can now be identified only by those with long memories or an exceptional interest in the past. Yet in the 1920's he was one of the American biologists best known in Europe. . . . the patient and skillful work that Woodruff did has made possible all the later research in his chosen area, and some of this later work has been very important indeed. He belongs to history, which is what he would have wanted" (quoting from G. Evelyn Hutchinson's Biographical Memoir of Lorande Loss Woodruff, for the National Academy of Sciences).
Seller Inventory # 9313
Contact seller
Report this item
