Chester Albert Reed

Here is a comprehensive list of Chester A. Reed’s publications

Chester Albert Reed was a successful author. From 1903 to 1912, he published 24 books, without counting the five books “American Ornithology for the Home and School” published by his father, Charles K. Reed. Those 5 books were a summary of the articles published in the magazine between 1901 and 1905.

Two other books were excluded from that count: “Wild Birds of Mohonk, Catskills” and “Wild Flowers of Mohonk, Catskills.” They were most certainly associated to the copyrights of “Wild Birds of New York” and “Wild Flowers of New York.” They featured the same content, but the books had different titles. The retail rights in the New York region were owned by the “SalesRoom,” a gift shop at the time at the “Mohonk Mountain House.”

Even though Chester A. Reed passed away in December 1912, the book “Western Bird Guide” is included in the count. Refer to the section on the 1913 publication to better understand the situation.

There was also a book edited in 1914, after his death. It is not included in the count of books that he published.

All books published by Chester A. Reed were edited by his father. Even the ones edited by “Doubleday, Page & Company” were produced by his father. He included the production costs in his price to sell the printing rights to “D., P. & C.” For more information on the relationship between Charles K. Reed and Doubleday, refer to the “For the Most Curious” section. You will find a comprehensive list of all books edited by Charles K. Reed.

Only one copyright was sold to Doubleday, Page & Company when the book “Color Key to North American Birds” was published in 1903.

The copyrights of all books published by Chester were owned by his father, Charles, except for one. Their business relationship was one of “employee – employer,” a typical family relationship at the time. For more information, refer to the “For the Most Curious” section.

Chester mostly wrote about ornithology, but his naturalist side brought him to explore other topics such as flowers, photography, taxidermy and nature in general.

He died too young to follow his inspirations.

Here is a comprehensive list of his publications, along with a few comments.

1901 to 1905
American Ornithology for Home and School

1903
Color Key to North American Birds

1904
North American Birds Eggs

1905
Bird Guide Part 2, Land Birds East of Rokies

1906
Bird Guide Part 1, Water Birds, Game Birds

1907
Flower Guide, Wild Flower East of Rockies

1908
Goldfish, Aguaria & Ferneries;
Guide to Taxidermy, Enlarged and Re-written

1909
Bird Guide, Part 2, Land Birds Revised (Water color drawings 4 colors process)

1910
Nature Studies Birds, 40 colors illustrations;
Wild Flowers East of the Rockies, 320 pages, Oil colored painting;
Flowers Guide, Revised, new illustrations, Oil colored painting;
Bird Guide, Part 1, Water Birds, Revised, new illustration, Oil colored painting of 230 birds

1911
Nature studies in field and wood, 40 illustrations;
Camera Studies of Wild Birds in Their Homes;
Birds of New Jersey