Phylogeny and Classification of Birds: A Study in Molecular Evolution

Yale University Press, 1990. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. 976 pages. 7-1/4 by 10-1/4 inches. Based on the genetic material of 1,700 bird species. With an introduction to the structure and function of DNA. First edition (first printing). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. A large, heavy book. From the Harvard office library of the paleontologist and leading advocate for evolution, Stephen Jay Gould. With a posthumous tipped in bookplate indicating the provenance. *** Intellectually, Gould understood the true nature of these bookplates, but the book collector in him appreciated them. In his essay 'A Seahorse for All Races' Gould writes about one of his prized possessions, a book from Charles Dickens' library: 'Dickens made no annotations, but a bookplate on the cover, presumably inserted as a come-on for a sale after Dickens' death in 1870, does prove that [he] kept and shelved the book.' *** We offer our Gould bookplates, printed letterpress in two colors, in the same spirit.

This book presents the results of a study of the evolutionary history and classification of living birds based on comparisons of the DNAs (genetic material) of about 1700 species. Sibley and Ahlquist's DNA-DNA hybridization technqiue is a biochemical method that measures the degree of genetic similarity between the DNAs of different species of other groups of organisms, but this book includes the largest set of DNA comparisons for any group.