A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers (1963, 1st Printing) | Peterson Field Guide | Craighead & Davis | Glacier Park Provenance

1963 Peterson Field Guide — Rocky Mountain Wildflowers with Park Ranger Provenance

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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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