THE LICHEN BOOK ; HANDBOOK OF THE LICHENS OF NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
Ridgewood, NJ: The Author (G.G. Nearing), 1947. Hardcover. Octavo, 9 in. x 6 in., pp. 648. Illustrated with drawings and charts created by the author. Brown cloth boards with gilt title to front and spine. Rubbing to extremities. Reinforcement booktape to front and rear hinges. Rear endpaper missing. Light age-toning to pages. Good Plus. Item #100524
Guy Nearing (1890 - 1986) is described as a polymath. He was known for rhododendron breeding, mycology (especially lichens), magazine publishing and advertising, poetry and American folk dancing. Starting in 1941 Nearing put together The Lichen Book: Handbook of the Lichens of Northeastern United States, self-published in 1947 illustrated with his own line drawings. The flood in 1945 partly destroyed both prints and originals so that only a few hundred copies were produced which contained several errors] However, it contained keys to lichen species that allowed multiple access and presented the identification data as a matrix, both styles that were ahead of his time. In contrast, he did not consider chemical tests to be useful for lichen identification.
Price: $75.00