[Cover title: The Tryons’ Handbook for Young Conchologists.]

[The Society of Tryons]. – [Prof. Josiah KEEP (1849-1911)] [Cover title: The Tryons’ Handbook for Young Conchologists. San Francisco: 1890], 12mo (5 ½ x 4in; 140 x 102mm). Pp. [1-]2-8. 2 illustrations. Stapled into original red glazed paper wrappers, titled on upper cover (somewhat crudely backed), loose in cream paper wrapper. Provenance: William James Clench (1897-1984, signature on upper cover)

Ephemeral, and very rare – OCLC lists only the Mills College copy. ‘The Society of Tryons’ was founded by Keep, who writes that it was ‘composed of young people who [were]…interested in the study of shells’. It does not seem to have flourished? Professor Keep moved to California with his wife in 1877. ‘There he taught in the Golden Gate Academy and the Alameda High School… In 1885 he became Professor of the Natural Sciences in Mills College, which … has through the efforts and generosity of its founders developed into a well-equipped and charmingly situated college, the Wellesley of the Pacific Coast. … With the wide general knowledge required by his field of work, it was of course impossible for him to be a specialist in any, but his deep interest had been aroused in the study of the Mollusca in which the Pacific Coast is so rich. Between 1881 and 1911 he published a series of what might be called primers of west-coast shells… enabling the beginner to gain a preliminary knowledge of the attractive shells of California. To these little books we may fairly ascribe much of the wide-spread interest which is to-day found among Californians.’ (W.H. Dall in ‘The Nautilus’, vol. XXV, no.6 [October 1911], pp. 61-62). OCLC 80025466 (1 copy: F.W. Olin Library in Mills College)

RIJ 2023