AN AMERICAN PIONEER IN SCIENCE: WILLIAM JAMES BEAL

Privately Printed, 1925. BAKER, Ray Stannard. [With Jessie Beal Baker]. AN AMERICAN PIONEER IN SCIENCE: THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF WILLIAM JAMES BEAL. Amherst, Mass.: Privately Printed, 1925. 8vo., gray boards with paper title label on the front cover; 94 pages. Limited Edition of an unknown number of copies published for family and friends. Signed presentation from both authors (using their initials) on the front endpaper: "To our dear friends and neighbors the Kenneys, R.S.B. and J.B.B." William James Beal was a well-known professor of botany at the Michigan Agriculture College (now Michigan State University) from 1871 to 1910 and the university's botanical garden is named after him- the oldest continually-operated botanical garden in the United States. Beal was also curator of the college's museum and director of the Michigan state Forestry Commission. Beal and Professor Rolla C. Arpenter also created "Collegeville" which later became East Lansing. Ray Stannard Baker- who married Beal's daughter, Jessie- was a famous American journalist who also wrote under the pen-name David Grayson. He became one of the most famous "muckraking" journalists in the country and co-founder of the "American Magazine." Baker was a close friend and biographer of President Woodrow Wilson and served as his press secretary at the Versailles peace conference ending World War I. A rare book and I have been unable to locate any other copy, much less a signed one! Very Good condition (small repaired crack on spine, minor puckering to boards on rear cover; contents clean & tight). $1,500.00.