Blanchan, Neltje. How to Attract the Birds and other Talks about Bird Neighbours. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1902. First Edition. [12059]
Dark green cloth, the front bordered in white with white titles, title rubbed from spine, some light edge-wear with fraying at the headcap, 8 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches, tight. The first several leaves are creased, there is a private bookplate, v, 224 clean pp. with many b/w illustrations and reproduced photographs. Good. Hardcover.
Printed on heavy glossy stock. A quality production by the Mount Pleasant Press of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Neltje Blanchan was the nom de plume of Blanchan De Graff Doubleday (1865-1918), b. Chicago, Illinois; d. Canton, China. She wrote eleven books on wildflowers and birds, notable for her combining scientific interest with attractive and charming writing. She was married to the publisher Frank Nelson Doubleday. Mrs. Doubleday was a committed worker with the American Red Cross, and while on assignment with them in China, she died suddenly.
"Mrs. Doubleday, who used the pen name of Neltje Blanchan, was a sociable and vivacious woman with a great deal of fervor. The Doubledays maintained homes in both New York City and Oyster Bay, Long Island, where they entertained regularly. In addition to her writing career, she was involved in a number of philanthropic activities, among them the American Red Cross chapter in Nassau County, Long Island. Appointed with her husband as a commissioner for the National Red Cross, she embarked with him on a special assignment for that organization to the Philippines and to various parts of China early in December 1917. She died unexpectedly in Canton, China, on February 21, 1918, at the age of 52." -Grinsten & Biermann, Women in the Biological Sciences, A Bibliographic Sourcebook, p. 120.
