April 2020 - With the uncertainties of getting to the post office during the current confusions, we won’t be shipping any books for awhile. If you see something you like, and can wait for it, let us know and we’ll put it on hold for you.
The free pdfs identified below are available any time.
We sell used books and journals related to the subjects covered on the CONDOR TALES website, and some of our other personal interests, and we offer them on these pages. Our selling philosophy: we like money, but are not necessarily out to make it from used book sales. We try to price our books competitively.
HOW TO ORDER
We are beginning the process of closing out our used book "store," and have reduced the prices of almost everything. We've removed the PayPal "Buy Now" buttons, at least for awhile, because we don't have time right now to edit them all. If you want to buy something, send an e-mail with your wants, and we'll send an invoice with the costs. Then, if you want to buy, you can pay electronically through PayPal.
To the prices given, $4.50 should be added to cover mailing. If you are ordering two or more books that can be sent in the same package, we will reduce the shipping costs accordingly: e.g., if $4.50 still covers our handling costs, that's all we charge; if we can send 3 books for $5.00, that's what it will cost you. Note: these are based on U. S. Postal Service Media Mail rates (the old "book rate"). If you would like expedited service (e.g., Priority Mail), let us know, and that's the quote we'll show in the invoice we send you. Sorry, we are only shipping inside the United States, now.
Contact Address: books@condortales.com
NOTE: These books are either used or new but "shop worn." Every copy is "good" or better, but they show some degree of wear.
NATURAL HISTORY JOURNALS
THE AUK (Journal of the American Ornithologists' Union) - miscellaneous individual issues, all in good to very good condition. $3.00.
Volume 113, Number 3 (July 1996)
Volume 116: Number 2 (April 1999), Number 3 (July 1999), Number 4 (October 1999)
Volume 122: Number 2 (April 2005), Number 3 (July 2005), Number 4 (October 2005)
Volume 123, Number 1 (January 2006)
NORTHWESTERN NATURALIST (Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology) - individual numbers 2008-2010, all in good condition. $2.00 each. Ask us what is available.
NATURAL HISTORY - MISCELLANEOUS
CHALMERS-HUNT, J. M.
(compiler). 1976. Natural history auctions, 1700-1972: a register
of sales in the British Isles. London: Sotheby Parke Bernet. Hard
cover. 189 pages. ISBN 0-85667-021-9. $25.00.
A unique look at the selling of natural history memorabilia over
the years. Our copy is very good in very good dust jacket. Spotless;
one minor tear on back side of dustjacket. Included are bibliographical
references and a good index.
McCARTHY, J. 2008. Monkey puzzle man. Archibald Menzies, plant hunter. Caithness, Scotland: Whittles Publishing. ISBN 978-1904445-61-6. Paper, 223 pages. $15.00. Interesting account of the life of Archibald Menzies, A nice synthesis of readily available information on Menzies, but disappointing that the author did not dig a little deeper into the archives (e.g., the National Library of Australia) for other aspects of Menzies.
POESCH, J. 1961. Titian
Ramsay Peale and his journals of the Wilkes Expedition 1799-1885.
Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society. Hardbound, dust
jacket, 214 pages. $15.00.
This is a general biography of Titian Peale, as well as presentation
of existing parts of his journals covering his travels in the
South Pacific, Oregon, California, and South America. Our copy
is clean and tightly bound. The dust jacket is frayed, and in
one place has been mended with Scotch tape.
STROUD, Patricia T.
2000. The Emperor of Nature: Charles-Luciene Bonaparte & His
World. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Hardcover,
with dust jacket. 371 pages. ISBN 0-8122-3546-0. $8.00.
Charles Bonaparte, a relative but not a descendent of the famed Napoleon, was an avid naturalist who visited the United States in the 1820s, and was an early leader in American ornithology. This is the first biography written of him, and is full of natural history and European history and politics. A very entertaining book. Ours is a former library book, but there are only three small library stamps on the book, and none of the usual defacements. It is clean and well-bound, and includes illustrations, chapter notes, bibliography and index.
WILKINS, THURMAN. 1988. Clarence King: A Biography. Revised and
enlarged edition. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
Trade paperback. ISBN 0-8263-1085-0. 524 pages. $9.00.
Clarence King was leader of the early topographic and geological surveys of western North America, climbed mountains not previously visited, had mining interests in the U. S. and Mexico, and served as first Director of the U. S. Geological Survey. This is a good read and a great biography. Our copy has a slightly scuffed cover,with a little curl on the edges, but is overall very nice. The book includes illustrations, an index, and a bibliography.
BOTANY
FOSTER, J. H.
1960. Trees and shrubs of New Hampshire. Fifth edition. Concord,
NH: Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. Paper,
110 pages. $2.00.
Very useful, pocket-sized guide useful throughout the Northeast.
Our copy is well bound, and very clean.
GLEASON, Henry A. 1963.
New Britton and Brown, Illustrated flora of the northeastern United
States and adjacent Canada, Volume 1. New York and London: Hafner
Publishing. Hardbound. 482 pages. $45.00. Beautifully illustrated flora. Our copy is very clean and well-bound
GLEASON, Henry A. 1963. New Britton and Brown. Illustrated flora of the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. Volume 2, the choripetalous dicotyledoneae. New York and London: Hafner Publishing . Hard cover. 655 pages. $40.00.
Beautifully illustrated flora. Our copy is very clean and well bound.
GLEASON, Henry A. 1963. New Britton and Brown, Illustrated flora
of the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, Volume
3. New York and London: Hafner Publishing Company. Hardbound.
595 pages. $45.00.
Beautifully illustrated flora, very clean and well-bound.
McCARTHY, J. 2008. Monkey
puzzle man. Archibald Menzies, plant hunter. Caithness, Scotland:
Whittles Publishing. ISBN 978-1904445-61-6. Paper, 223 pages.
$15.00.
Interesting account of the life of Archibald Menzies, A nice synthesis of readily available information on Menzies, but disappointing that the author did not dig a little deeper into the archives (e.g., the National Library of Australia) for aspects of Menzies' life not already covered in various publications. Our copy is in nearly new condition.
ROGERS, J. E. Undated
(probably ca 1917). Tree guide, trees east of the Rockies. Boston,
MA: W. B. Clarke Co. Softcover. 265 pages. $5.50.
This is a lovely little pocket guide, still as useful today as ever. Each species is illustrated with photos of leaves and seeds, with some colored plates of flowering shrubs. The covers and spine show obvious signs of wear, but it is still nicely bound and clean.
TILTON, G. H. 1923. The Fern Lover's Companion, a guide for the Northeastern States and Canada. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. Hardbound, 240 pages. $6.50. This is apparently the second edition (original 1922) of a very nice little guide to ferns. It has "one hundred and eighty-eight illustrations," mostly of herbarium specimens but some habitat shots. Ours is slightly worn on the spine, and has a library stamp on the title page, but overall tight and clean.
WHERRY, E. T. 1942.
Guide to Eastern Ferns. Second Edition. Lancaster, PA: Science
Press Publishing Company. Hardbound. No dust jacket (probably
didn't have one). 252 pages. $5.00.
I suspect there are more modern fern field guides available, but this one has lovely line drawings, and each fern description includes identifying features, habitat, range, and a little history of the species. Our copy is tightly bound, and nearly spotless.
WHITE, H. A., and M.
WILLIAMS (editors). 1989. Alaska-Yukon Wild Flowers Guide. Anchorage,
AK: Alaska Northwest Books. ISBN 0-88240-032-0. Trade paper. 218
pages. $1.50. This is the 9th printing, apparently
unchanged from the original 1974 publication. It is a nicely done
book of color photos of the more common or interesting plants
of Alaska and Yukon Territory. Not outstanding, but useful. The
cover of our is very slightly dog-eared; overall, a nice clean,
well-bound book.
WILDLIFE-GENERAL
ALLEN, Thomas B. 1974.
Vanishing Wildlife of North America. Washington, D. C.: National
Geographic Society. Hardbound. 207 pages. ISBN 0-87044-129-9.
$3.00.
One of the first books to describe endangered wildlife from the
standpoint of the people studying them. In standard National Geographic
fashion (the old National Geographic, not the terrible television channel!), the stories are well-written and accurate, and the photos
are excellent. Our copy is very nice, in its original dust jacket.
BABCOCK, Harold L. 1938.
Field Guide to New England Turtles. Boston, MA: Boston Society
of Natural History. New England Museum of Natural History, Natural
History Guide No. 2. Paper. 56 pages. $2.00. A very
nice early field guide, with good descriptions and excellent color
plates. Includes an identification key and bibliography. Our copy
is very clean and well bound.
CARPENTER, L. B. 1990.
Idaho wildlife viewing guide. Helena and Billings, MT: Falcon
Press. Paper. 104 pages. ISBN 1-56044-021-X. $1.00.
This is one of a series of state guides to good places for watching wildlife - has maps, color photos, recommendations on when to go, and lists of what can be seen. Our copy is in nearly new condition.
DeGRAAF, Richard M.,
and Deborah D. RUDIS. 1986. New England wildlife: habitat, natural
history, and distribution. Broomall, PA: United States Dept. of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station,
General Technical Report NE-108. Trade paper. 491 pages. $10.00.
Excellent guide to the amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals of New England, with maps, discussion of use of various habitats, summary of life history, with an excellent bibliography. Except for a slight dog-earing of the lower right front cover, our copy is in beautiful shape.
HOLLAND, W. J. 1920.
The butterfly guide; a pocket manual for the ready identification
of the commoner species found in the United States and Canada.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company. Soft cover.
237 pages. $9.50.
This is a lovely little pocket guide, with colored pictures. First published in 1915. It has cover wear and light soiling due to age, but is still well bound and very nice.
La TOURETTE, J. 1992.
Washington wildlife viewing guide. Helena and Billings, MT: Falcon
Press. Paper. 96 pages. ISBN 1-56044-150-X. $1.00.
This is one of a series of state guides to good places for watching wildlife - has maps, color photos, recommendations on when to go, and lists of what can be seen. Our copy is in nearly new condition.
WALSINGHAM, LORD and
R. PAYNE-GALLWEY. 1987. Shooting, field and covert. Southhampton,
U.K: Ashford Press Publishing. Hardbound, no dust jacket (may
not have had one), 358 pages. $7.50.
Lord Walsingham's 1900 book on all aspects of guns, dogs and hunting, reprinted in its sixth edition. Our copy is very clean and very tightly bound.
MAMMALS
BROWN, C. E. 1913. Pocket
list of mammals of eastern Massachusetts. Salem, MA: Peabody Academy
of Science. Paper, 53 pages. $2.00.
Interesting mostly because of its age, and its relative rarity.
Other than a little wear on the cover and spine, and a previous
owner's signature on the cover, our copy is clean and nicely bound.
SUMNER, L. and J. S. DIXON. 1953. Birds and mammals of the Sierra Nevada, with records from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Hardbound, no dust jacket (library copy), 484 pages. $5.50.
One of the U. C. Press faunas of California regions, full of distribution information on all the birds and mammals of the central Sierra Nevada. Excellent historical coverage of some of the now very rare or missing mammals (wolverine, fisher, red fox, grizzly bear), and a good bibliography. Ours is an ex-library copy, with all the usual defacing inside front and back covers, but it is otherwise clean and solidly bound.
ECOLOGY,
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
CAMPOLO, Tony. 1992.
How to Rescue the Earth Without Worshiping Nature: A Christian's
Call to Save Creation. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Hard cover. 213 pages. ISBN 0-8407-7772-8. $2.50.
In very readable fashion, the well-known Christian author and
speaker seeks to persuade us that our faith should make us more
concerned about our earthly environment, not less. Our copy is
very good in very good dust jacket. A few pencilled underlinings
are the only mars on this otherwise very clean copy.
FLANNERY, T. 2005. The weather makers. How man is changing the climate and what it means for life on Earth. New York, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. Hardbound, dust jacket, 357 pages. ISBN-10: 0-87113-935-9. $1.50.
One scientist's take on global climate change, and its effect on humans, wildlife and the environment. Our copy is in almost new condition.
HARRIS, L. D. 1984.
The Fragmented Forest: Island Biogeography Theory and the preservation
of Biotic Diversity. Chicago and London: University of Chicago
Press. Paper. 211 Pages. ISBN 0-226-31764-1. $6.00.
One of the pioneering studies of forest fragmentation, and its effects on wildlife and the forest environment. Our one copy is in good condition.
SANDS, A. [editor].
1980. Riparian Forests of California: Their Ecology and Conservation.
Berkeley, CA: University of California. Paper. 122 pages. ISBN
0-931876-41-9. $6.50.
This is a compilation of papers presented at a symposium on Riparian Forests, held at Davis, CA, 14 May 1977. Good early coverage of an "endangered habitat." Our copy is in good condition, with only slight discoloration on the cover edges.
TREFETHEN, J. B. 1976.
The American landscape: 1776-1976, two centuries of change. Washington,
D. C: Wildlife Management Institute. Paper, 91 pages. $2.50.
An overview of changes in the landscape of the United States in its first 200 years of nationhood. The before and after photos are fascinating, showing both "good" and "bad" changes over time. Our copy is a little scuffed around the edges, but otherwise a good, clean copy.
YAFFEE, S. L. 1994.
The Wisdom of the Spotted Owl: Policy Lessons for a New Century.
Washington,D.C. and Covelo, CA: Island Press. Paper. 430 pages.
ISBN 1-55963-204-6. $5.50.
The author discusses the spotted owl - old growth forest issue in detail, giving his opinion on why the controversy reached such major proportions, and suggesting implications for the future. Interesting coverage. Our copy is very good, except for a couple of dog-eared pages.
NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT, LAW, AND ECONOMICS
ADVENTURE TRAVEL SOCIETY.
1991. Proceedings of the 1991 World Congress on Adventure Travel
and Eco-Tourism. Paper, 224 pages. $1.50.
The proceedings of a 4-day conference held in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, 28-31 August 1991. Our copy is in nearly new condition.
BARKER, R. 1993. Saving all the parts: Reconciling economics and the Endangered Species Act. Washington D. C: Island Press. Paper. 268 pages. ISBN 1-55963-201-1. $1.50.
A popular discussion of endangered species, most of them in the northern Rocky Mountains (grizzlies, wolves, salmon), as they fit into the local human environment. Our copy looks a little shopworn, but is clean and solidly bound.
BOO, E. 1990. Ecotourism:
the potentials and pitfalls. Washington, D. C.: World Wildlife
Fund. Paper, 2 volumes, 236 pages total. $10.00.
A very nice discussion from the early days of ecotourism. Volume 1 discusses the concept, and some of the key issues to be considered. Volume 2 has case studies of ecotourism ventures around the world. Our copies have clearly been around for awhile, but are very clean and solidly bound.
HART, B. and D. T. TAYLOR.
2002. Saving special places: community funding for land conservation.
Concord, NH: Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
Paper, spiral bound, 154 pages. $1.50.
Ideas for local action to preserve open land and areas of environmental significance. Written for New Hampshire, but good discussion that is applicable to many areas. Our copy is clean and still well-bound (not always the case with spiral binding).
KOHM, K. A. [editor]. 1991. Balancing on the Brink of Extinction: The Endangered Species Act and Lessons for the Future. Washington,D.C. and Covelo,CA: Island Press. Paper. 315 pages. ISBN 1-55963-006-x. $4.00.
This is a multiple-author book, exploring various legal aspects of the Endangered Species Act. Our copy is in nearly new condition.
LIND, B. 2005. Conserving
your land: options for New Hampshire landowners. Concord, NH:
Center for Land Conservation Assistance. Paper, 61 pages. $1.00.
A basic primer, with case studies, of ways to preserve private lands. Although written for New Hampshire, the concepts of easements, land title transfers and reservations, etc., are applicable anywhere. Our copy is clean and solidly bound.
LINDBERG, K. 1991. Policies
for maximizing nature tourism's ecological and economic benefits.
World Resources Institute. Paper, 37 pages. $1.00.
A general review of nature tourism, with proposed guidelines to maximize local benefits and minimize ecological harm. Our copy is slightly wrinkled (looks like moisture damage), but is clean and solidly constructed.