"This careful account of the life's work of a dedicated scholar-collector accomplishes what no practicing entomologist can ever do... Never mind that the books are totally fascinating to the outsider."
-- Roger E. Stoddard, Former Curator of Rare Books, Houghton Library, Harvard

"A thoughtful distillation of a great deal of gathering and collecting that combines and carefully arranges the monumental, the workaday, and the ultra-rare from nearly everything that has been written, printed, and read on apiculture in America."
-- Dr. Earle Havens, Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts, Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins

This annotated bibliography of American books on bees and beekeeping is the first of its kind. Interest in bees and beekeeping continues to grow in the world. Approximately 3,800 entries are recorded, through which can be traced not only the growth of bee science and beekeeping methods, but also the history of beekeeping in America.

The task of locating and examining these books, recording these bibliographic entries, and preparing annotations has taken twenty years. The goal of the bibliography is to provide the holder of a bee book a way to know which book he or she has in his or her hands, and to further identify the seminal works.

The Appendices provide a valuable research tool: each book is identified as falling into one or more of forty-five categories. Categories include, for example, Are Honey Bees Native to America, Women in Beekeeping, and Honey Production. This bibliography will be of great use to librarians, book collectors and booksellers, as well as beekeepers and those interested in agricultural history and innovation. Illustrated in color throughout.

Philip A. Mason is a life-long resident of Brookline, Massachusetts. He graduated from the University of Chicago (A.B.) and the University of Chicago Law School ( J.D.). When he was fifty-two, with the encouragement of Professor Roger Morse, he enrolled in Cornell University and received his Ph.D. in Entomology. This bibliography reflects the confluence of his interest in bees, beekeeping, and book collecting.