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Home / Products / Roger Tory Peterson A Field Guide to the Birds Eastern Land and Water Birds Vintage Illustrated Paperback
Blue front cover of A Field Guide to the Birds by Roger Tory Peterson, with puffin, cardinal, and goldfinch illustrations and visible rubbing.
First blank page of Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds with a handwritten owner's name, discoloration, surface abrasion, and a ragged, torn outer edge.
Title page of A Field Guide to the Birds by Roger Tory Peterson, Second Revised and Enlarged Edition, beside the Peterson Field Guide Series list.
Copyright page showing forty-fourth printing, copyrights 1934, 1939, and 1947, and ISBN 0-395-08082-7, opposite the dedication page.
Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds open to pages 46 and 47, with identification text for hawks and eagles.
Plate 21 in Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds, showing color illustrations of herons, bitterns, ibises, and a limpkin beside identification notes.
Plate 36 in Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds, with black-and-white flight illustrations of bald eagles, golden eagles, and an osprey.
Blue back cover of Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds, showing review excerpts, book information, the $3.95 printed price, and extensive rubbing.
Angled front view of Peterson's bird guide paperback, showing worn blue covers and browned page edges with ragged paper near the front.
Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds lying flat, showing the blue titled spine, illustrated front cover, and worn spine folds.
Top-edge view of Peterson's bird guide paperback showing browned page edges, the blue illustrated cover, and a creased cover corner.
Blue front cover of A Field Guide to the Birds by Roger Tory Peterson, with puffin, cardinal, and goldfinch illustrations and visible rubbing.
First blank page of Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds with a handwritten owner's name, discoloration, surface abrasion, and a ragged, torn outer edge.
Title page of A Field Guide to the Birds by Roger Tory Peterson, Second Revised and Enlarged Edition, beside the Peterson Field Guide Series list.
Copyright page showing forty-fourth printing, copyrights 1934, 1939, and 1947, and ISBN 0-395-08082-7, opposite the dedication page.
Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds open to pages 46 and 47, with identification text for hawks and eagles.
Plate 21 in Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds, showing color illustrations of herons, bitterns, ibises, and a limpkin beside identification notes.
Plate 36 in Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds, with black-and-white flight illustrations of bald eagles, golden eagles, and an osprey.
Blue back cover of Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds, showing review excerpts, book information, the $3.95 printed price, and extensive rubbing.
Angled front view of Peterson's bird guide paperback, showing worn blue covers and browned page edges with ragged paper near the front.
Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds lying flat, showing the blue titled spine, illustrated front cover, and worn spine folds.
Top-edge view of Peterson's bird guide paperback showing browned page edges, the blue illustrated cover, and a creased cover corner.

Roger Tory Peterson A Field Guide to the Birds Eastern Land and Water Birds Vintage Illustrated Paperback

$14.99

A Field Guide to the Birds by Roger Tory Peterson covers Eastern Land and Water Birds, with field marks for identifying species found east of the Rockies. This illustrated paperback belongs to The Peterson Field Guide Series and is the Second Revised and Enlarged Edition, forty-fourth printing.

The blue covers show extensive rubbing, scuffs, creases, and worn edges. A previous owner's handwritten name appears on the first blank page, which also has discoloration, surface wear, and a ragged outer edge with small tears and missing paper. The photographs show these flaws alongside the readable text and illustrated plates.

Peterson's guide helps readers compare birds by their markings, silhouettes, voices, and ranges, with color and black-and-white illustrations that make similar species easier to distinguish.

Details

  • Item: Illustrated bird identification field guide
  • Title: A Field Guide to the Birds: Eastern Land and Water Birds
  • Author: Roger Tory Peterson
  • Illustrator: Roger Tory Peterson
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston
  • Publication Year: Not confirmed from photos. Copyright dates shown: 1934, 1939, and 1947.
  • Era: Likely 1970s
  • Edition and Printing: Second Revised and Enlarged Edition; forty-fourth printing, with the letter C printed beside the printing statement
  • Format and Binding: Paperback with blue illustrated covers
  • Dust Jacket: None
  • Pages: 230, with illustrated plates
  • Genre: Nonfiction, Birdwatching, Ornithology, Natural History
  • Language: English
  • ISBN: 0-395-08082-7
  • Dimensions: 7.25 inches tall x 4.75 inches wide x approximately 1 inch thick

Condition Grade: Good

Positives

  • Graded Good: Readable text and clear illustrated plates, with substantial cover wear and damage to the first blank page.
  • The photographed text pages are readable, with no visible highlighting or underlining.
  • Color illustrations retain clear detail, including the photographed herons, bitterns, and ibises.
  • Black-and-white plates show identification features of bald eagles, golden eagles, and osprey.
  • Species entries include field marks, similar species, voice, and range information.
  • The cover advertises 1,000 illustrations, including 500 in full color.
  • The spine lettering remains readable, and the photographed text and plates remain attached.
  • The compact paperback format fits comfortably into a birding bag.

Issues / Wear

  • Front and back covers have widespread rubbing, scratches, scuffs, and small areas of color loss.
  • Cover edges and spine folds show whitening and abrasion.
  • Cover corners are rubbed and bent, with a pronounced crease at the upper front corner.
  • The first blank page has a previous owner's handwritten name and faint pencil markings near the upper corner.
  • That page has uneven discoloration, gray marks, roughened surface areas, and creasing.
  • Its outer edge is ragged, with multiple small tears, chips, and missing pieces of paper.
  • Page edges are browned and show uneven dark speckling and soiling, especially near the damaged front page.
  • Interior paper shows age toning, most noticeably around the margins.
  • The covers sit unevenly over the page block, with some curling visible in the angled views.

Find more like this in our Vintage Nature & Field Guides collection.

If it's the right copy for you, it's ready to come home.

  • Near Fine: Close to new. Any flaw is small and named above.
  • Very Good: Light use. Every flaw is named above, and none of them get in the way of reading or display.
  • Good: Complete and usable, with clear signs of use. Every flaw is named above.
  • Fair: Heavy wear or damage, named above. A reading or working copy, not a display piece.

Every item is honestly described and carefully packed. These are vintage pieces, so light age-related wear comes with them. I show and describe what I see so you know what to expect.

If your order arrives damaged or materially different from the listing, contact me within 7 days of delivery and I will make it right.

Returns must be sent back within 30 days of purchase, in the same condition received. I inspect each return against the original photos and description. 

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Not eligible for a refund: requests made more than 30 days after purchase, items returned damaged, or items returned in different condition than received. 

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Read the full Return and Refund 

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