THE FOLLOWING BOOK ABOUT AN EXPEDITION TO THE CHOCO DEPARTMENT OF COLUMBIA WAS WRITTEN BY ROBERT CUSHMAN MURPHY, THE RENOWNED LONG ISLAND ORNITHOLOGIST, NATURALIST AND EARLY CONSERVATIONIST KNOWN FOR HIS EXTENSIVE OCEANIC EXPEDITIONS AND WORK WITH THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. THE BOOK IS INSCRIBED BY MURPHY TO LONG ISLAND BUSINESSMAN AND PHILANTHROPIST WARD MELVILLE AND HIS WIFE DOROTHY. MELVILLE IS ESPECIALLY KNOWN FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO LONG ISLAND’S “THREE VILLAGES” AREA, HELPING TO ESTABLISH STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY BY DONATING 400 ACRES OF LAND AND FOUNDING THE MELVILLE CORPORATION (NOW CVS HEALTH). ALSO, LAID IN AT FRONT ARE TWO TYPED PAGES BY MURPHY DATED SUMMER 1944 FROM HIS HOME AT CRYSTAL BROOK, MOUNT SINAI, LONG ISLAND CONTAINING HIS NATURAL HISTORY OBSERVATIONS ON HIS PROPERTY, THE ADJACENT SALT MARSHES AND THE HARBOR.

TO THE CHOCO IN THE SCHOONER “ASKOY” BY ROBERT CUSHMAN MURPHY. EIGHT ILLUSTRATED ARTICLES FROM NATURAL HISTORY VOL 53, Nos. 5-10, 1944, VOL 54, Nos. 1-2, 1945. THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK. 

BLACK BUCKRAM, WITH TITLE IN GILT TO COVER, 4to, 12 1/4” x 9 1/4”, APPROXIMATELY 90 PAGES, ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOS AND TEXTUAL MAPS. INSCRIBED IN BLACK INK TO THE TOP RIGHT FRONT FREE ENDPAPER: “TO DOROTHY AND WARD WITH THE AFFECTIONATE APPRECIATION OF ROBERT CUSHMAN MURPHY.”

BOOK IS IN FINE, CLEAN, BRIGHT AND TIGHT CONDITION, EXCEPT FOR A SLIGHT BOW TO THE EXTREME RIGHT EDGE OF FRONT BOARD.