Literary
UNTERMEYER
(Louis, 1885-1977, American poet, Anthologist, Critic and Editor)
Selected Poems and Parodies signed and inscribed on the front free endpaper
For Peter, with a bow to Vandenberg, Murphy, & St Patrick - including the Ruthven snakes!, 8vo., published by Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, with the date embellished a small flower 17th March
Item Date: 1938
Background
Untermeyer was appointed the fourteenth Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1961.Alexander Grant Ruthven (1882-1971, American Naturalist, President of Michigan University, 1929-1951) wrote a famous book on Garter Snakes in 1908. Ruthven's Snake or Ruthven's Kingsnake is named after him. It can be kept as a pet but is very venomous and will eat other less venomous snakes. St Patrick chased all the snakes out of Ireland and Murphy is a typically Irish name. Vandenberg Air Force Base occupies a gigantic swath of land in northern Santa Barbara County. Most of it is pristine, inhabited not by humans but by a motley crew of flora and fauna, including Vandenberg Rattlesnakes.
Stock No. 38645