LONDON'S NATURAL HISTORY. By R.S.R. Fitter. Collins New Naturalist No. 3. First edition.

1945 1st edition. 8vo (150 x 223mm). Ppxii,282. B/w photographs, maps, bibliography. Green buckram, spine titled in gilt.

This is one of the classics in the literature on London; a detailed history of the flora, fauna and physical geography of this enormous city, beginning with a survey of what was in the area before the town arose 2,000 years ago. Chapters include; before Londinium; Romano-British London; mediaeval London; the Wen begins to swell; the Wenbursts; nature indoors; the wholly-built-up areas; the partly built-up areas - gardens and parks; the effects of digging for building materials; the influence of trade and traffic; the influence of water supply; the influence of refuse disposal; the influence of smoke; the influence of food-getting; the influence of sport; the Cult of Nature; the influence of the War. Appendices include; a botanical ramble in 1629; the birds of the London area; the lost plants of Middlesex; the hundred commonest London plants; list of flowering plants and ferns recorded from bombed sites in London.