Look What Came in My Mailbox

Yesterday I received a book I had been coveting for some time, Moths of Eastern North America by Charles V. Covell. This field guide was originally published in the Peterson field guide series in 1984. Unlike many other guides in that series, it was never updated or reprinted by the publisher,* so that copies are usually hard-to-find or  expensive, either as used books or as a third-party reprint. So when I did find a copy at a reasonable price, in this case a special fiftieth anniversary edition printed to mark the 50th anniversary of Peterson's first bird guide, I snatched it up as quickly as possible.

The odd thing is that from the outside it does not look at all like a standard Peterson guide with its red leather cover and gold leaf lettering and page edges. It even came with a bookplate and a ribbon bookmark sewn into the binding. Despite its outward appearance, it is the same inside as any other edition of the guide, with plates of pinned moths and identifying text.

I am looking forward to using this once moths start flying in greater numbers as the weather warms.

* I should add that the series does have a new moth guide in preparation, which will be substantially different from Covell's.