Philosophers of the earth;: Conversations with ecologists [signed] [first edition]

First edition hardcover, a seminal book about ecology, or as the jacket says "the first attempt to bridge the gap between the professional ecologist and the interested layman." An association copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper to the British-born author and activist Jessica Mitford and her husband, Robert Treuhaft: "Decca and Bob, Many thanks, + love from Anne." Jessica Mitford was born to an aristocratic family but famously eloped with her cousin, who was later killed in WWII. She met her second husband, Robert, in Washington D.C., and they eventually settled in Oakland, CA. She is best known for her memoir, Hons and Rebels, detailing her childhood in the Mitford family and their political schism as she turned left and they turned right to fascism; and later an investigation of predatory funeral practices in the U.S., The American Way of Death, which was a bestseller and led to reform in the industry. As it happens, Anne Chisolm, the author of the book at hand, wrote Mitford's obituary in the Independent when she died in 1996, compounding the power of this association. For more about Mitford, see also the thorough 2006 review of her collected letters in the New Yorker. Among other writers J.K. Rowling has noted her influence: "My most influential writer, without a doubt, is Jessica Mitford. When my grand-aunt gave me Hons and Rebels when I was 14, she instantly became my heroine." A near fine book in a very good jacket on account of several tears to edges of the front cover, the longest about 3/4 of an inch. Scarce signed.