Hay, Oliver P.; The Fossil Turtles of North America. 1st edition, Carnegie Institution, 1908. Quarto, pp. iv, 568, 704 text illustrations and 113 plates.
The work is complete and in a modern cloth with text and plates bound separately. The bindings are tight and clean. The text and plates are very clean with the margin of a perforated library stamp on the outer edge of the title page. In very good condition.
Noted for his studies of Fossil Chelonians, osteology of dinosaurs and the vertebrates of the Pleistocene; Hay (1846-1930) spent his career as a vertebrate paleontologist at the Field Museum, American Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Institution. His pioneering work "The Fossil Turtles" is still considered the definitive study on the subject. Within it he describes 276 species of turtles, their osteology and geographical distribution. The quality of the plates make this work an excellent reference tool.