Hyman, Libbie Henrietta | Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy

Second impression of the second edition of this classic textbook that was originally published in 1922. A battered copy that is of interest for the extensive notes and other signs of use by university students. The ownership inscriptions on the front free endpaper are “A. Graham Zool ‘48” and “Sydeny Rosen Meds 49”. The text is full of notes and underlining in multiple pencil colours and by different hands; some of the illustrations have been coloured in for study purposes; and material has also been taped in and loosely inserted, including a library card for the London Public Library belonging to the same Arthur Graham who signed the book.

The author of this textbook, Libbie Henrietta Hyman (1888-1969) developed her interest in natural science as a child and majored in zoology at the University of Chicago. “Encouraged by Mary Blount, a doctoral candidate who was in charge of the elementary zoology laboratory, Hyman took Charles Manning Child’s invertebrate zoology class during her senior year. So impressed was Child by her abilities that he suggested she attend graduate school. After she received her bachelor’s degree in zoology, she became Child’s graduate student. Hyman replaced Blount as the laboratory assistant in zoology and comparative vertebrate anatomy. this experience led her to write two very successful and financially remunerative laboratory manuals. The royalties on these early books made her financially independent” (Ogilvie, Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science, p. 637).

Hyman continued in her role as laboratory assistant for sixteen years, then moved to New York City to pursue her goal of writing a major monograph on the invertebrates. The American Museum provided her with an office, laboratory, and library access, and she spent the next thirty years working on the multi-volume treatise, the last volume of which was published in 1967, while continuing to study and publish on all aspects of invertebrate biology. Hyman was also editor of the journal Systemic Zoology, vice president of the American Society of Zoologists, and president of the Society of Systematic Zoology, and received numerous honorary doctorates, two gold medals and the Daniel Giraud Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.