The human zoo

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1969. Yellow boards with black cloth and gilt title on spine, dustjacket unclipped with slight rubbing to corners, book plate of Michael Overcash; signed “Best wishes from Demond Morris” on title page. A clean copy. Signed first American edition, second printing as stated. Following the fame of Morris’ first book, he continues down the path of studying humans and “scrutinizes the society the naked ape has created for himself and compares civilized man with his captive counterpart…It remains to be seen if man will turn his human zoo into a magnificent human game-park or into a gigantic lunatic asylum reminiscent of the cramped animal menageries of the last century.”

Morris (b. 1928) is a zoologist, surrealist painter, and author of prominent works in sociobiology. His most famous work The naked ape (comparing humans as a species to other animals) was removed from high school libraries in New York and became the subject of a 1982 supreme court case. Morris also worked as Head of the Granada TV and Film Unit for the Zoological Society of London creating programs on animal behavior.