My Friend Mr Leakey.

London: Cresset Press,, 1937. First edition of this collection of fantasy stories for children by the eminent British scientist John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (1892-1964). Haldane was chiefly distinguished for his work in genetics, but also contributed to many other fields of science, ranging from cosmology to the physiology of diving. His intention in writing the book about Mr Leakey, a magician who lives in a London flat in company with his animal servants, was to demonstrate that science can be more exciting than magic ever was. "The book is peppered with 'asides' on scientific topics. One of the best is the story of Mr Dobbs, who made a large income out of the railways 'by travelling with excess luggage', having devised special suitcases which rose in the air when weighed: 'You see, if your bag weight a hundredweight more than it ought to you have to pay the railway company, but if it weighs a hundredweight less than nothing, they have to pay you.'" Octavo. Illustrated throughout by L. H. Rosoman. Original green cloth, spine lettered in silver, with dust jacket. Head of spine very lightly soiled, endpapers and fore-edge lightly spotted; a very good copy complete with the dust jacket, not price clipped, spine ends and upper corners a little chipped, slightly spotted, but very well preserved and scarce thus. The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, p. 368.