Edward F. Ricketts & Jack Calvin: The Publishing of BETWEEN PACIFIC TIDES, First Edition (1939)

There is a story behind Edward F. Ricketts and Jack Calvin’s effort to have their seminal work, Between Pacific Tides, published. Upon being presented an outline of the manuscript, it took 10 years for Stanford University Press to publish the book. Was the publication slowed by then Director of Hopkins Marine Station Walter K. Fisher’s critical review of the manuscript? Did Stanford University Press dislike the ecological approach that Ricketts and Calvin chose for the book? Was Ed Ricketts completely isolated from the scientific community of Hopkins Marine Station, as has often been suggested? The discovery of numerous letters of correspondences between Ed Ricketts, Jack Calvin, Stanford University Press, and invertebrate specialists scattered around the world provide answers to these and other unanswered questions.