New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, (2008.) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - For more than fifty years, explorer-naturalist George Schaller has been on a mission: to save the world's great wild beasts and their environments. This biography, illustrated throughout with Schaller's own full color photographs and maps, examines how his landmark research revolutionalized field biology, demonstrating that it is possible to study dangerous animals in their own habitats: mountain gorillas in Central Africa, tigers in India, leopards in the Himalayas, and many others. SIGNED on the title page by the author. Sources, index. 103 pp. Square format, slightly oversized. ISBN: 9780374345785.

New York: Abelard, (1953) dj. Hardcover first edition - A book written for older children to introduce them to 26 artists over the centuries from DaVinci and Michelango to El Greco, Goya, Millet, Whistler, Van Gogh and others. 286 pp.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2010. dj. Hardcover first edition - The true story of Annie Edson Taylor (1838-1921), a plump grandmotherly woman of 63 who, hoping for fame and riches, decided to be the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, as told by this Caldecott award winning writer. She was not only the first one to do so - she remains the only woman to successfully do this alone. Illustrated by Van Allsburg in sepia toned drawings. Tall format, unpaginated. ISBN: 978-0547315812.

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, (2001) dj. Hardcover first edition - In 1998, twenty-five years after Plath's suicide, Ted Hughes published "Birthday Letters," a cycle of poems addressed to his Plath, his first wife. Without casting blame, this book explores the destructive relationship between these two poets through their lives and their writings - she shows the events that shaped the "Birthday Letters" and also how they drew upon Plath's own work. Includes references, bibliography, a general index and an index to the works of Hughes and Plath cited in the book. Illustrated by photographs. 312 pp. ISBN: 0-393323013.

New York: Schocken, 1971. The first full length biography of this Yiddish writer. Photographs. ISBN: 0-8052-02978.

New York: Dutton (1999) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first book by this journalist, who with a bicultural heritage - he was born of an African American mother and Congolese father and reared in California, Boston, Tanzania, and the Congo - which offers an "evenhanded and encyclopedic examination of the facts and fictions that have grown on both sides of the Atlantic." Notes, bibliography, index. xiv, 384 pp. ISBN: 0-525-943870.

New York: Harper Collins, (2009.) dj. Hardcover first edition - "A major reassessment of the most influential and controversial American artist of the second half of the twentieth century . . . Based on extensive new interviews and insight from those who knew him best." Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs plus 16 pages of glossy full color plates of Warhol's work. Notes, index. xv, 509 pp,. ISBN: 9780066212432.

Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, (1972). First edition - Foreword by John W. Blassingame. In addition to being a brief biographical account, this also discusses the opposition to some of his ideas - especially his encouragement of Black Americans to "go slow" in pursuit of their rights - by Charles Chesnutt and W. E. B. DuBois. Illustrated with photographs. Includes an appendix with the full text of his 1895 Atlanta Speech. Suggestions for further reading. 78 pp.

Los Angeles: Dawson's Bookshop, 1964. dj. Hardcover first edition - Born in Spain, Amat entered the Congregation for the Mission and in 1838 he volunteered to go to America. By 1848, he was the rector of the diocesan seminary in Philadelphia - but in 1853, Pope Pius IX appointed him to vacant bishopric of Monterey in California. Both his appeals and that of his community were in vain, so he became the "reluctant prelate." Frontispiece portrait and 15 internal plates. Foreword, preface, bibliography and index. xv, 234 pp.

New York: Norton, (2008.) dj. Hardcover first edition - "How an investigative journalist brought down Standard Oil." Both a fascinating picture of the beginning of investigative journalism in the US - or muckracking - and the early history of the oil industry, and a biography of two strong-willed and determined people. Photographs, bibliography, index. xv, 304 pp. ISBN: 978-0393-049350.

New York: Public Affairs, (2007). First edition - A chronicle of her more than 20 years as an activist devoted to women's reproductive health. An honest and compassionate portrait of the clinics that opponents denigrate as slaughterhouses. 268 pp.

Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. First edition - An extensively researched and sensitive portrait of Sarah, daughter of Chief Winnemucca in north western Nevada, and the granddaughter of Chief Truckee. A pioneering educator, interpretor, author of what is believed to be the first book by a Native American woman, she worked tirelessly on behalf of her people. Illustrated with photographs.A title in the American Indian Lives series. Map,notes, bibliography. xi, 356 pp.

New York: Simon & Schuster, (1979.) dj. Hardcover first edition - These reporters now classic study of the US Supreme Court, of the men and women who are justices, and of its landmark decisions during the 1960s and 1970s. Reprinted many times, this is relatively uncommon in first printing. Photographs. Index. 467 pp. ISBN: 0-671-241109.

New York: Random House, (1950.) dj. Hardcover - A 'World Landmark Book' for children, illustrated with two color drawings by Elton Fax. Biography of a man who led his desert tribe of nomads from out of nowhere and conquered half the known world, the scourge of both Christians and Moslems. The Landmark series is perhaps one of the best series for children from the mid-20th century, and they are especially remarkable for the quality of the writing - in many cases, a Landmark book might be the only children's book by an author who is considered an expert in his or her field. Index, illustrated endpapers. 181 pp.

New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, (1972) dj. Hardcover first edition - Biography of a woman born in Scotland in 1795, who came to America in 1818 as a young woman because she believed in freedom - she wrote books, founded a commune, published a radical newspaper, spoke out against slavery, organized religion and for women's rights. A title in the Women in America Series. Illustrated with photographs. Index. xiix, 259 pp. ISBN: 0-690204019.

New York & Nashville, TN: Abingdon-Cokebury Press (1953) dj. Hardcover first edition - A biography of this statesman, born in Virgina, moved to Tennessee (where he became governor in 1827, after serving under Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812) , but who was drawn to the open spaces of Texas and who served as Senator and Governor of Texas. This culminates with the 1861 Secession Convention, where Houston refused to take the oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, and so the Lieutenant Governor took his place. Although he was a slave owner, for him Texas came first. Written for children and illustrated throughout with black and white drawings by Robert Burns. 128 pp.

New York: Warner/ Grand Central. (1988) dj. Hardcover - A portrait of this important African American novelist by a friend and fellow writer, one which discusses his political beliefs, and looks at his major works. The first biography of Wright by one of his contemporaries and the first critical biography by another Black scholar and author. Photographs, bibliographical essay, index. xix, 428 pp. ISBN: 0-446710016.

New York: Warner/ Grand Central. (1988) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - A portrait of this important African American novelist by a friend and fellow writer, one which discusses his political beliefs, and looks at his major works. The first biography of Wright by one of his contemporaries and the first critical biography by another Black scholar and author. INSCRIBED and dated by Walker on the title page. Photographs, bibliographical essay, index. xix, 428 pp. ISBN: 0-446710016.

New York: Harper & Row, 1984. dj. Hardcover first edition - In writing this biography of two jazz musicians, William Ruff and Dwike Mitchell, who have performed as a jazz duo since 1955, with Ruff on the double bass and French horn and Mitchell on the piano, Zinsser, who had studied jazz piano with Mitchell, followed them on their tour to Shanghai in 1981 (where they introduced jazz to China) and ending with a trip to Venice in 1983. A warm personal account of the shaping of two musicians. ISBN: 0-06-0152753.

New York: Harper & Row, 1984. dj. Hardcover first edition - In writing this biography of two jazz musicians, William Ruff and Dwike Mitchell, who have performed as a jazz duo since 1955, with Ruff on the double bass and French horn and Mitchell on the piano, Zinsser, who had studied jazz piano with Mitchell, followed them on their tour to Shanghai in 1981 (where they introduced jazz to China) and ending with a trip to Venice in 1983. A warm personal account of the shaping of two musicians. ISBN: 0-06-0152753.