Endowments; Ornithology; Ornithological literature; California; Birds of California Publishing Company; Dawson, William Leon, 1873-1928; Scripps, Ellen Browning, 1836-1932
Format
correspondence
Genre
Business correspondence
Date
[between 1901 and 1919?]
Physical Description
microfilm, 16 mm, b&w
Note (Reel no.)
Reel 81
Note
PDF may contain multiple grant documents.
Repeated inquiries from librarians, students and book collectors requesting various details concerning the several formats of William Leon Dawson's 'Birds of California' prompt the writer to place on record such pertinent facts as have come to his not ice incidental to a more or less intimate association with the later marketing of these well known books... No better outline of the progress of the work up to 1921 can be given than that contained in Dawson's own words. He states on page 3 of the wrapper enclosing Part One published in that year: 'Part One of 'The Birds of California,' presented herewith, marks a distinct departure from our original publication plans. Instead of three volumes, appearing simultaneously, 'The Birds of California' will come out in standardized parts of 64 pages each, thirty or thirty-two in all, and will make, when assembled, four volumes...' The distribution of Part Two followed immediately that of Part One, and both bore the imprint, 'The Birds of California Publishing Co.,' as well as the two lines, 'Published Under the Patronage of Ellen Browning Scripps'... Miss Scripps was so greatly pleased with the appearance and content of these two parts that she decided to obviate further delay by underwriting the entire publication. Thus, the activity of The Birds of California Publishing Company was brought to a sudden end..." [SOURCE: Chambers, W. (1939). Bibliographical Notes on Dawson's "Birds of California". The Condor, 41(6), 231-243. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/1364089, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1364089. Accessed 20 Sep. 2018.]