Peterson Field Guide Series
A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers (1963, 1st Printing) | Peterson Field Guide | Craighead & Davis | Glacier Park Provenance
A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers (1963, 1st Printing) | Peterson Field Guide | Craighead & Davis | Glacier Park Provenance
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AT A GLANCE
- Title:
- A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers
- Publisher:
- Houghton Mifflin Company
- Subject:
- Rocky Mountain wildflowers
- Artist:
- Grant Hagen; Eduardo Salgado (Illustrators)
- Author:
- John J. Craighead; Frank C. Craighead; Ray J. Davis
- Era:
- Mid-20th Century (1946 - 1969)
- Date:
- 1963 (1st printing)
- Origin:
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Dimensions:
- 4 ½" x 7"
- Condition:
- Very Good (VG); jacket fair
- Cover:
- Hardcover with dust jacket
- Pages:
- 278
- OCLC:
- 183430
- Book genre:
- Field Guide | Natural History
- Notes:
- Peterson Field Guide Series; Glacier National Park ranger ownership (1965–1966)
Low stock: 1 left
1963 Peterson Field Guide — Rocky Mountain Wildflowers with Park Ranger Provenance
🐦 Collector’s Note
Vintage nature guides are collected for their blend of scientific insight and artistic illustration. Mid-century editions helped popularize birdwatching, bringing identification into the hands of everyday enthusiasts. Today, they are valued as both practical references and nostalgic artifacts of a growing appreciation for the natural world.
This 1963 first printing of A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers covers regions from northern Arizona and New Mexico to British Columbia and documents more than 590 botanical species, with over 200 color photographs and 118 detailed drawings,
Part of the highly regarded Peterson Field Series—long considered a cornerstone of American natural history publishing, the guide was co-authored by John Craighead, Frank Craighead, and Ray J. Davis and edited by noted naturalist Roger Tory Peterson. It was published by Houghton Mifflin Company and printed at The Riverside Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Twin brothers, John J. Craighead (1916–2016) and Frank C. Craighead Jr. (1916–2001) were pioneering American wildlife biologists whose work helped shape modern conservation science, particularly through groundbreaking studies of raptors and large mammals in the Rocky Mountain region. Working from Montana State University, they were early innovators in wildlife tracking and ecological research.
Ray J. Davis (1895–1984), a leading botanist and professor at Idaho State University, authored Flora of Idaho and developed one of the region’s most important herbarium collections, contributing significantly to the study of western plant life.
What makes this particular copy especially compelling is its direct connection to Glacier National Park—bearing the name of a former park ranger, Franklin M. Walker, dated 1965 and 1966, along with a stamped ownership mark. This provenance adds a meaningful layer of authenticity, suggesting the book was actively used in one of the very landscapes it was written to interpret.
Designed for practical use in the field, it reflects a period when outdoor exploration, conservation, and amateur botany were becoming widely popular. A thoughtful field-ready detail includes a printed ruler along the back cover edge—allowing hikers and naturalists to measure plant features directly in the field.
📌 Condition: Hardcover with original dust jacket. The book itself is in very good condition, with a tight binding and clean interior pages. The dust jacket shows significant wear, including tearing and loss along edges and folds. Previous owner name and dates appear on the inside front cover, with a stamped name on the rear inside cover. Light foxing is present, primarily inside the front cover.
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