Donald Culross Peattie: 10 books

"A volume for a lifetime" is how The New Yorker described the first of Donald Culross Peatie's two books about American trees published in the 1950s. In this one-volume edition, modern readers are introduced to one of the best nature writers of the last century. As we read Peattie's eloquent and entertaining...

Cargoes and Harvests, famed naturalist Donald Culross Peattie’s first book, eloquently explores agriculture and trade within America’s past using thoughtful language that is well ahead of its time. Originally published in 1926, Peattie takes readers on a compelling adventure through the socioeconomic...

In Green Laurels, Donald Culross Peattie combines his extensive knowledge of history's foremost naturalists with his personal observations about the subject to form what the New York Herald Tribune calls "a delightful book...one would not wish to miss on any account." This piece is accurate and precise...

A Book of Hours contains 24 essays, one for each hour of the day, that seek to bridge the gap between definitive scientific philosophy and the sheer unadulterated beauty that Donald Culross Peattie envisioned within everyday life. The Boston Transcript referred to this collection as “science, in sheer...

The Road of a Naturalist is a fascinating autobiographical wonder written by one of America's most beloved naturalists at the height of his fame. A scientist, a philosopher, and a poet, Donald Culross Peattie takes us on an confessional journey across the landscape of his life. Told in flashbacks of...

Flowering Earth is an extraordinary work in which Peattie explores the origin and significance of plant life with an unmatched sense of astonishment and reflection. According to The New York Times, his prose in Flowering Earth “is pervaded by a continuous sense of beauty and illuminative insight,”...

A Gathering of Birds is an anthology containing selected prose about birds by nineteen famous authors, such as Hudson, Audubon, and Thoreau, and includes brief biographical information about each. The New York Times called the collection “a delightful ‘gathering’ that Mr. Peattie has presented, and his own contributions to the book make it something new and valuable in this field.”

An Almanac for Moderns contains a short essay for each day of the year that contemplates a unique but factual aspect of unbridled nature. According to a review in Nation, this collection of essays manages to “appeal to the ordinary lover of nature . . . but the turn of Peattie’s mind is poetic and...

Diversions of the Field contains a collection of essays tackling the subjects of hunting, fishing, game animals, and wildlife throughout different regions of the country. The Atlantic called it “a refreshing animal book,” and The New York Times praised Peattie’s work, contending that “it is written by a naturalist, who is at heart a poet, to the land that bore him.”

Originally published in the early 1900s. The illustrated contents include: Schoolmen and Herbalists - The Wonderful World of the Microscope - Science at Court: Buffon and Reaumur - Linnaeus and His Life Work - The Great Field Trips - Lamarck - Georges Cuvier - Bartram and Michaux - Wilderness Birdsmen;...