Roy Chapman Andrews Society

I have been remiss in not placing a link to The Roy Chapman Andrews Society on my Blog.  This group based in Roy's hometown of Beloit, Wisconsin are dedicated to perpetuating the name and achievements of one of Beloit's most famous native sons.  Their new website contains interesting video clips,  a photo of RCA's childhood home, and a walking map of Beloit and points of interest related to Andrews, as well as the multifacted activities of the Society.  

Collecting Roy Chapman Andrews Part 4

         Barkan dune at Tugrikin Shire, Outer Mongolia.  By Clive Coy

   During the late twenties field work in Mongolia became dangerous, and civil war combined with the overt actions of  Imperial Japan within China made further exploration impossible.  With great reluctance the members of the 1930 field season returned home to the United States certain they would never be able to return.  Andrews remained behind at the expeditions headquarters in Peking, spending his time paying the expeditions accounts, selling the camel caravan, vehicles and equipment.  It was during this period that Yvette divorced Andrews, citing abandonment. Civil war and banditry had made it unsafe for Yvette and her two young sons  to follow Andrews into the field after 1920.  Andrews had  allowed himself to become consumed by the needs of the expedition and had lost  both emotional and physical contact with his family.

            During a cold and solitary Peking winter Andrews finished what is arguably the single greatest undertaking of his writing career; The New Conquest Of Central Asia.  Published as volume one, it was third in a series that  were originally conceived as a twelve volume set of which only seven were ever published. 

First Edition.  1932.  In original dust jacket

Now highly prized by collectors, the bulk of the imposing seven pound volume is the official narrative of the expeditions that gives a comprehensive review of the accomplishments as a whole, and reviews problems raised by their discoveries. The photographs are numerous, and the panoramic fold out plates are of such high quality that they would cost a fortune to reproduce today.  So comprehensive and wide ranging was the work of the C.A.E. that the seven completed volumes became standard works on the geology, recent animals, fish, and palaeontology of Mongolia and China.  Never before had an American non-military overseas expedition made so many  major discoveries in so short a time.  The most important  scientific discoveries were quickly published by Osborn, Matthew, and Granger.  However, the enormous collections outran the available research and publication facilities of the Museum and even now, eighty-one years later, their preparation and study are ongoing. 

            Andrews returned to New York; and after more than 23 years of continual field work his exploring days were over.    On February 21, 1935, he married Wilhelmina [“Billy”] Anderson Christmas, and Andrews began to rebuild his life in busy, noisy New York.    

Andrews and 'Billy' in Seattle, boarding the train to New York

upon returning from Honeymoon trip to Asia.  1936.

Andrews capped his career at the American Museum of Natural History as vice-director [1931 - 34] and director [1935 - 42].   In addition to his new museum duties, he continued to promote the need for exploration in  numerous popular articles, and  books; with Ends Of The Earth, his first autobiography, printed in serial form by Saturday Evening Post prior to being released by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.  Trying his hand at radio, Andrews also presented a popular series entitled “New Horizons” on the Columbia Network during the late 1930’s.  Andrews had contributed to exploring and filling in the last “unknown” corners of the globe, and  he realised that exploration of the future would be very different from that of his own youth. 

Andrews as Director of AMNH, beneath portrait of his patron, mentor and friend, Henry Fairfield Osborn.

            As early as 1932, Andrews observed;  “To study these little-known areas, to reveal the history of their making and interpret that history to the world today, to learn what they can give in education, culture and for human welfare - that is the exploration of the future!”. Consequently, he began to write books  specifically for young readers in the hope that it would encourage them to pick up the torch .  This Business Of Exploring, and Exploring With Andrews  influenced a generation of young readers, some of  whom became today’s leading palaeontologists and zoologists.  

First Edition.  G. P. Putnam's Sons.  1935

First Edition.  G. P. Putnam's Sons.  1938.

            Inevitably, the steady diet of routine administration irked  Andrews, who had always preferred outside to indoors,  and a  tent to a boardroom.  During the late 30’s and early 40’s the museum faced hard times caused by the national economic crisis, low public attendance, and a sharp decline in philanthropic donations.  Bean-counting museum administrators questioned Andrews’ abilities to guide the ailing museum through the hard economic times, even going as far as to call for Andrews’ dismissal.  Hurt and disheartened; wishing to close his career at the museum with honour and dignity;  Andrews chose to resign,  and at the end of 1941, although still robust and only 57, he retired.

            Andrews lived  for a time in Connecticut, moved later to Arizona, and eventually settled in Carmel, California.  In retirement he wrote another 13 best-selling books that include his second autobiography, Under A Lucky Star, and two fictional accounts of his early exploration days, Quest In The Desert, and Quest Of The Snow Leopard.  

First Edition.  Viking Press. 1943.

Reprint.  Blue Ribbon Books. 1945.

Aimed at young readers the two novels drew on his experiences leading expeditions; and introduce the hero of both books,  Jack Benton, a character based loosely on Andrews himself.  The action packed novels cleverly instruct young readers on what it takes to put an expedition into the field, from purchasing supplies to dealing with bandits. 

First Edition.  The Viking Press. 1950

First Edition.  The Viking Press. 1955.

            Much loved and now difficult to find in even reasonable condition are Andrews’ three books for the All About series by Random House;  All About Dinosaurs, All About Whales, and All About Strange Beasts Of The Past.  Authoritative children’s books on prehistoric animals were rare prior to the 1950’s, and this trio of books illustrated by the talented Thomas Voter, and Matthew Kalmenoff,  influenced school science reports and the daydreams of several generations of  young readers. 

 

First Edition.  Random House. 1953

First Edition.  Random House.  1954.

First Edition.  Random House. 1956

            Andrews also tried his hand at fiction for adults; most notably  Heart Of Asia, a collection of twelve tales of life in Asia.  Andrews asserted that the ripping yarns were true as he experienced them or were told to him by others.  Among the tales were a dog who lived for vengeance; the predations of a phantom Blue Tiger; and a bandit who paid a debt with the hearts of his wife and child. 

 First Edition.  Duell, Sloan & Pearce.  1951.

Collecting Roy Chapman Andrews Part 3

Typical Gobi road, Outer Mongolia.  Photo by Clive Coy.

Mongolia had captivated Andrews, and he became obsessed with the idea of exploring the largely unmapped and mysterious country for the scientific treasures he was sure were buried there.  Despite critics who said that he might as well search the bottom of the ocean, Andrews together with palaeontologist Walter Granger, led five major expeditions in 1922, 1923, 1925, 1928, and 1930  to Northern China and Mongolia, which were commonly referred to as the Third Central Asiatic Expeditions.  The C.A.E.  heralded a new type of multidisciplinary exploration, with  representatives from eight fields of investigation: geography, topography, geology, palaeontology, zoology, archaeology, paleobotany, and herpetology.  These expeditions were the largest non-military ventures to leave the United States until that time; often operating with forty scientists and technicians, eight motorcars, and 150 camels.

Third Asiatic Expedition's Vehicles : 
The original unmodified Dodge Touring Cars, 
and Fulton One Ton Trucks

            Although the expeditions did not discover  early humans, they made major scientific findings that established Asia as one of the chief dispersal centres of animal life.  They uncovered implements dating back 20,000 years, evidence that the Gobi had been inhabited by people who may have later migrated to China, Siberia, and North America.  Their geological findings confirmed that Outer Mongolia had never been glaciated and was the oldest area on earth of continuously dry land.   The rich fossil fields that they discovered produced the first evidence of dinosaurs in Asia north of the Himalayas.  They yielded specimens of  tiny early mammals; the largest mammalian carnivore; skulls and other fragments of the largest mammal known to have existed on land; and  a genus of rhinoceros called Baluchitherium, which lived about thirty million years ago, stood eighteen feet high, and weighed twenty tons.

            The most spectacular discovery, for which Andrews and the expeditions became world-famous, was of three nests containing two dozen dinosaur eggs, the first recorded by science.  Discovered in the Gobi in 1923 and pictured in newspapers and magazines around the world, the nine-inch-long eggs had been nearly perfectly preserved. 

Original 1923 Photograph of Dinosaur Eggs found by George Olsen at Flaming Cliffs locality [Byan Dzag] 
Photo: James Barnes Shackelford, Expedition photographer.

  

            Popular culture has incorrectly attributed Andrews as discovering the eggs.  It was in fact technician George Olsen, an error that Andrews himself was always quick to correct in his books, and lectures.  Nonetheless,  Andrews was responsible for much of the success of  the logistical work and fund raising for these expeditions.  He conceived them, raised the funds, led them through the perils of banditry in Mongolia, revolution and civil war in China; and was adept at obtaining publicity, and achieving prompt publication of findings. Andrews wrote the preponderance of popular literature about the expeditions, but always shared the credit for its success with all members of the expedition. 

            Public demand for information about the expeditions was nearing hysteria by the mid 1920’s.  Newspaper reporters mobbed the ship when members of the expedition returned to New York via San Francisco between expeditions.  Offers reaching thousands of dollars were made for exclusive rights to pictures and stories, but Andrews refused them all, freely giving interviews to as many reporters as he and his staff could schedule.  However, one publisher did have first rights for magazine stories by Andrews, and all photographs taken by the expedition; an incredible arrangement agreed to in the early years of fund raising. 

            Asia Magazine, the official publication of the American Asiatic Association,  was the premiere American magazine devoted to an area that in the 20’s  overshadowed Europe as a popular travel destination.  Catering to wealthy travellers, Asia Magazine reached its zenith during the late 1920’s,  publishing articles by authors such as Pearl S. Buck, and Franklin D. Roosevelt; with cover art  by Frank M. McIntosh.  Liberally illustrated with photographs fresh from the expeditions’ cameras,  Andrews published a total of 25  lengthy articles between 1918 and 1926.  These articles detailed the triumphs and tribulations of the expedition; but most importantly allowed Andrews to reach his prime target audience, the wealthy elite with disposable money to fund such grand adventures. 

Dust jacket of First Edition. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1926

            By 1926 Andrews was deluged with letters from the public requesting a collected account of the expedition’s activities to date.   On The Trail Of Ancient Man was published as a popular narrative in direct response to these requests.  Much of the text of the book was written on the spot and preserves the atmosphere and excitement of the expedition that was pushing beyond the boundaries of contemporary exploration.  An examination of Andrews original field diaries revealed that in the early years his daily entries are sketchy reference notes; but by 1923 the entries have become volumous detailed narratives that required only minor polishing before becoming magazine articles and book chapters.  On The Trail Of Ancient Man also marked the beginning of Andrews’ association with G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a relationship that produced a total of  six books by 1940.  

Reprint.  Undated [Circa 1930] Garden City Publishing Co., Inc.  

Collecting Roy Chapman Andrews Part 2

 By the time his first book was published Andrews was already deeply immersed in preliminary land exploration in Asia. No longer content to work in an office or laboratory most of the year, Andrews developed a desire to do field work and exploration, away from the modern city, preferably somewhere little known. With the support of Henry Fairfield Osborn, then director of the Museum, funds from financial giants like J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller were forthcoming. Assisted further by monies raised personally through public lectures, Andrews led a series of expeditions to Asia. Yvette Andrews recorded the expeditions in both still photographs [including some of the earliest colour] and motion pictures.

In recognition of his ability he was appointed director of the museum’s First Asiatic Expedition to Tibet, south-west China, and Burma. This general stocktaking expedition on the edge of the Central Asian plateau was the first of a series of such expeditions directed by Andrews to gain information by which to guide more extensive explorations planned for the future. Appleton’s earlier gamble would be amply rewarded with Andrews’ next two books; Camps And Trails In China, and Across Mongolian Plains.

First Edition D. Appleton & Co. 1918
Gilt Stamped on Cloth.

Dust Jacket of First Edition.  D. Appleton & Co.

The infectiously enthusiastic Camps And Trails In China, co-authored and illustrated by Yvette, is a rich narrative of travel and hunting while traversing southern China, Vietnam, and Burma, at that time part of the Chinese Empire. Although technical in some areas, scientific reporting was avoided. Success of this book can be measured by its subsequent reprintings [1919, 1920, 1925,] at a time when first-hand accounts of the Great War, and the puerile novels of Harold Bell Wright were best sellers for Appleton. Both books have now become widely available as print on demand monstrosities, often at higher prices for a poorly bound photocopy, than a decent reading copy of the original edition.

Dust jacket of First Edition.  D. Appleton & Co. 1921

First Edition D. Appleton & Co.  1921
Gilt stamped on cloth

In Across Mongolian Plains Andrews succeeds in communicating the “boyish” excitement that animated him as he rode and motored over Northern China and Mongolia, an explorer in a strange place among strange peoples. Despite only sparse illustration, and use of the first person pronoun up to a dozen times per page, the exuberant narrative written from a sportsman’s view point sold well. 

Blue Ribbon Books Reprint.  Undated [Ca. 1930]

Blue Ink stamped on Buckram

However, Appleton’s was now moving towards fiction by authors like Zona Gale and Edith Wharton, and published only the first edition of this last project with Andrews. 

Dust Jacket of Blue Ribbon Books Reprint.  Undated [Ca. 1930]

Subsequent reprintings were handed to Blue Ribbon Books, and Garden City Publishing, initiating a trend that continued into the 1940’s after first editions by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and Viking Press. 

During this period of initial exploration into Asia he became enamored of the theories of William Diller Matthew and HenryFairfield Osborn. Matthew, a renowned palaeontologist at the American Museum, regarded Central Asia as the centre of origin for most mammals, and Osborn believed that it would prove the birthplace of humans. To test these theories it would be necessary to find the fossil evidence.

Advertisement.  May 1921.  

Evolution, Extinction, Fossilization [Repeat]

A Link to this Andrews Comic from the 1940's can be found at Paleoblog

For News, Views, Reviews, and Overviews related to all things Palaeo ~ Check out  

Dr. Michael Ryan's Paleoblog, where he gives the latest news about paleontology, dinosaurs, paleobiology, and related arts and sciences [and has great imagery from Vintage comics and movies.]

Arrived In My Mail Today

3000FC Roy Chapman Andrews stamp on decorative sheet. 

Issued in 2008.  Approx. 5 3/4" x 4 1/4"

The bulk of my collection is original books, photographs, letters, and other materials that were generated by or about Andrews during his life.  However,  I do also have a few modern pieces, often whimsical things like this that I find or are sent to me by friends.  This arrived in today's post from Thailand of all places.  The stamp is real, but I doubt that any were ever used in Unions des Comores as actual postage by the local inhabitants.  This is a Topical, generated by the government to satisfy stamp collectors and add a little to national revenue of this country located on Africa's east coast, north-west of Madagascar.  I looked it up and found that they issued a paleontology set that also includes Edwin Colbert, another stalwart of the AMNH.  I am happy to add this fun bit of ephemera to my collection.

Collecting Roy Chapman Andrews: Part 1

American Museum portrait of a young R. C. Andrews during his 'Whaling Days'.

Dinosaurs interest more people today than ever before, and books about dinosaurs, and the expeditions sent to find them continue to be  popular.  Titles such as The Dinosaur Project [Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 1993],  and Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs [Doubleday 1996], offer enjoyable non-scientific accounts of  expeditions to collect dinosaurs in Asia.  Their subtitles; “The story of the greatest dinosaur expedition ever mounted”, and Doubleday’s more restrained;  “The thrilling account of one of the largest dinosaur expeditions of the 20th century...”,  might lead us to suppose the expeditions were in competition with each other.  However, the two accounts were published roughly four years apart and documented the joint Sino-Canadian expeditions in China, and the American Museum’s return to Mongolia respectively.

            Both expeditions operated in a remote  area of the world, the rugged naked outcrops and shifting sands of the Gobi desert that lay on the borders of northern China and southern Mongolia.  Long proven to contain enough fossil treasure for numerous expeditions, the Gobi has also been explored by Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, and Russian teams.  Under this intense scrutiny it has revealed a  trove of unique and exquisitely  preserved fossilized skeletons.  

            Despite the superlatives used by their publicists, all expeditions to the Gobi follow in the wheel ruts and camel tracks of one truly monumental expedition,  the Third Central Asiatic Expeditions [C.A.E.] of the American Museum of Natural History, New York [1922 - 1930].     Despite having withdrawn from the field eighty years ago, the C.A.E. continues to cast a long shadow across the orange sands of Mongolia and China.   The organizer and leader of the C.A.E., Roy Chapman Andrews,  was a daring American explorer of the 1920’s  who is often identified as the model for the movie hero Indiana Jones, a rumor that co-creators Steven Speilberg and George Lucas have denied.  While Indiana Jones may be an unintentional amalgam of  real men like Roy Chapman Andrews,  Sven Hedin,  and Langdon Warner, the four movies undeniably follow in the tradition of  “Adventure” movies made popular during the 1930’s.

            While Indiana  Jones is a creation of Hollywood, Roy Chapman Andrews was the flesh and blood equivalent.  He actually did fight off a plague of poisonous snakes, sand storms, bandits, hostile armies in remote corners of the world, and was every bit as ruggedly photogenic as Harrison Ford.  Andrews led a remarkable life, a quintessential American success story,  beginning his career  at the American Museum of  Natural History mopping floors, retiring  35 years later as its Director.  Expeditions led by Andrews to Korea, Northern China and Mongolia explored and mapped lands previously unknown to Westerners, discovered many new living animals, fossil mammals, dinosaurs, and the first dinosaur eggs described by science.  All of these remarkable accomplishments by the time Andrews was 39 years old.

First Edition First Printing

            Although a mammologist by training,  Andrews is most often associated with dinosaurs, and it is his dinosaur books for children that may be his greatest legacy.  Many of today’s  leading dinosaur specialists like Philip Currie of the University of Alberta, in Canada, acknowledge their adult fascination with dinosaurs is in part due to reading Andrews’ All About Dinosaurs, or  All About Strange Beasts Of The Past. 

First Edition First Printing

            When writing for adults, Andrews had an uncommon ability to record what he saw and did in a manner that was popular and accessible to non-scientists.  Many of his books were written hurriedly on trains and ships in the precious spare time between expeditions, fundraising, and lecturing.  Andrews was not a great statesman or philosopher.  His writing has few pretensions to literary graces,  but it is vivid and  full of action and adventure.   In today’s world where bookstore shelves groan under the weight of the  travels of mediocrity, Andrews’ writing still strikes an authentic note.  Virtually in continuous print since 1929,  his  first autobiography Ends Of The Earth has proven a good investment for at least seven domestic and foreign  publishers.  

First Edition, First Printing.  G. P. Putnam's Sons.  1929

With twenty-two books, and well over 200  magazine articles, Andrews did more to popularize dinosaur hunting than any professional palaeontologist, and generated more interest in Central Asia than any writer previously.  Sadly, despite the current frenzied interest in all things related to dinosaurs, this body of work is poorly known by book collectors, and book dealers.

            Roy Chapman Andrews was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, on January 26, 1884.  His parents, Charles Ezra, a  rural wholesale druggist, and Cora May Chapman Andrews,  were  gentle, intelligent people, but there was nothing in his background or surroundings to indicate what he would become.  He  grew up along the banks of the Rock River with the fields and woods of  southern Wisconsin as his playground.  Two books  made an impression on the young adventurer,  Handbook of  Birds of Eastern North America  by Frank M. Chapman,  and William T. Hornaday’s  Taxidermy and Home Decoration.   Frank Chapman, considered the foremost ornithologist in America at that time, inspired Andrews to wander the woods, binoculars and notebook in hand, studying the habits and migrations of local bird species. Fascinated by nature early in life, Andrews taught himself taxidermy by reading Hornaday’s book, and  while still in public school became proficient at realistic bird mounts.  From as early as he could remember, Andrews wanted to be an explorer, living out of doors and  working for a natural history museum.

            In the summer of  1906, two months after graduating from college, Andrews arrived in New York with only thirty-five dollars in his pocket,  determined to work at the American Museum of Natural History.  Granted an interview with the museum’s director, Herman C. Bumpus, he asked for a job, scrubbing floors if nothing else was available.  Bumpus observed that college graduates should not scrub floors.  Undaunted, Andrews replied “ I don’t want to wash just any floors, but the Museum floors are different”.  Andrews was hired as an assistant in the preparation department, where his duties were washing floors, mixing clay, and helping to set up exhibits. Tenacity paid off and he was soon given a field assignment to assist with collecting the skeleton of  a beached whale at Amagansett, Long Island.  It was an experience that exhilarated Andrews. His enthusiasm for his work and for the museum were immediately apparent, and he quickly advanced within the institution.      

Coloured postcard of A.M.N.H. mailed in 1906

               Andrews sailed on expeditions to the Pacific Ocean in order to study whales and the whaling industry in British Columbia, Alaska, Korea, and Japan.  Thriving on difficult work, Andrews stalked whales at sea and dissected, sketched, and recorded their characteristics at the rendering factories on shore.        He persisted with research despite almost constant torment from seasickness and a number of harrowing experiences; most dramatically, on the deck of a whaler, escaping death by inches when the carcass of a whale slipped from the tackle, crushing the man standing beside him.  Throughout his life he made light of the perils of exploration, claiming that he found it more dangerous to live in a modern city than in the wild.   He eventually sent back enough whale specimens to fill a large exhibit hall, and built the museum’s collection into what is still regarded as one of the best in the world.

            Endowed with enormous energy and ability, Andrews soon established a reputation in the study of cetaceans, and by age twenty-seven  he was a recognised authority on whales.   

Hand-coloured lantern slide: Baleen.  Photo by Roy C. Andrews 1912

As a result of these extensive studies he published two major monographs in the prestigious Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History:  The California Gray Whale, and  The Sei Whale  [1914].  This pioneering work became the basis for his master’s degree from Columbia University, and seven scientific papers on various Cetacea.  Despite early acclaim, Andrews’ wrote years later that his heart was not in pure research, a fact born out by publishing none after he was thirty years old.

            Andrews’ photograhs in The New York Times created a sensation.  The pictures of  live whales, swimming, eating and mating were the only images of the giant and poorly known mammals published at that time.  Andrews’ star began to rise when Walter Hines Page, editor of World’s Work magazine, asked him to write an article about modern whaling practices.  Andrews’ first submission written in scientific jargon was a dismal failure that was rejected outright.  However, with the patient guidance of Page, Andrews learned to write in a manner that interested the general public, and conveyed his own personal enthusiasm for the work.  Success with his first published periodical story, Whale Hunting As It Is Now Done [1908], led to 13 additional articles in popular magazines such as Harper’s,  Metropolitan, and  Outing, as well as  science magazines that include Nature, Scientific American, and National Geographic. It was at this time that Andrews became popular as a public lecturer.  His ability to instil an audience with excitement about science and exploration would serve him well when it came time to raise funds for future expeditions.                         

Glass Lantern Slide Gray Whale, Ulsan Korea.  Photo by Roy C. Andrews

            During 1909-10 he served as special naturalist aboard the research ship U.S.S. Albatross on a voyage to the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, and the Celebes.  The Albatross made a three year journey around the Philippine Islands, a new American territory recently acquired from Spain, and Andrews was involved in conducting the first survey of life in those waters.  He was one of only two people aboard the ship that  published a narrative about the history making voyage.  During 1911 - 12 he explored northern Korea to collect existing mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and plants in a region never before entered by an outsider.  In 1913 he was with the Borden Alaska Expedition, and continued his study of whales and other water mammals until 1914.  In 1914 he married Yvette Borup, sister of  Arctic explorer George Borup, who had accompanied Admiral Robert E. Peary during his journey to the North Pole.   Yvette, a talented photographer whose work appeared in Andrews’ early books  and popular magazine articles, was also a lover of the great outdoors, and  in the early years of their marriage travelled with her husband to remote corners of the world.

Gilt embossed cover of First Edition, First Printing.  1916

Illustrated dust jacket of First Printing.  D. Appleton & Co., 1916.

            Andrews’ first book; Whale Hunting With Gun And Camera was a gamble for D. Appleton & Co.  The as yet unknown Andrews had written an ambitious book, that until the 1960’s,  would remain the most comprehensive study of whale behaviour published.  The compelling and exciting images of whale hunting, and  previously unseen images of living whales were a departure from Appleton’s normal stock.  Ahead of its time, it would have been a risk to publish in  the best years, and 1916 was not a good year.  America had not yet joined the fight against Germany,  but the global effects of W.W.I  had already driven the cost of book publication up by 25%.  Few publishers could risk committing to a new writer who may not sell.  However, Whale Hunting With Gun and Camera does appear to have sold well enough, as there were five printings between 1916 and 1935.  Now difficult to obtain in any condition, the first edition, first printing of the heavy photo-illustrated book is scarce.  In thirty-one years of collecting Andrews I have located only one first edition copy in the original illustrated dust wrapper.  All subsequent printings were issued in a sickly green wrapper with blue titles and no illustration, and the cloth binding lacks the gilt design on the cover.