“AGASSIZ WAS THE GREATEST TEACHER OF HIS TIME… WITH DARWIN HE WAS THE MOST CONSPICUOUS MAN OF HIS DAY”

(AGASSIZ, Louis) HOLDER, Charles Frederick. Louis Agassiz. His Life and Work. London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893. Octavo, original brown and green cloth. $500.

First edition of this illustrated biography of acclaimed naturalist Louis Agassiz.

Written by acclaimed California sportsman and naturalist Charles Frederick Holder, this biography explores the life and accomplishments of renowned naturalist Louis Agassiz. Swiss-born Agassiz established his reputation at an early age with a six-volume study of fish fossils that became "the basis of his fame and scientific fortune. It won high praise from distinguished naturalists such as Sir Charles Lyell and Richard Owen." His study of Lake Superior's fish, climate and geological history became the "most complete work of this comparatively unknown region" (Sabin 506). Appointed to teach at Harvard, his passion for classifying new species soon produced a museum whose immense collections proved so valuable that "the great majority of practicing naturalists active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries could trace their educational lineage to Agassiz and his museum" (ANB). Ex-library, with three library stamps blacked out and evidence of label removal.

A few small stains to text, only light rubbing to extremities of cloth.