Men and Apes

Title: Men and Apes
Genre: Science, Nature & Pets
Author: Ramona Morris (?-2018) and Desmond Morris (1928-)
Illustrator: Uncredited; signature appears to be “Rossin.”
Publisher: Bantam Books, New York, New York.
Year: 1968 (first paperback edition of 1966 book)
Pages: 312
Format: Paperback, mass market format.
Provenance: Unknown.
Contents: introduction; sacred apes; apes as fools and sinners; apes as lovers; apes enjoyed; the ape discovered; the ape as an animal; intelligent apes; apes exploited; bibliography; index.
From the Introduction: “This is not a book about man’s evolution from an ape-like ancestor. There are plenty of those already. Instead it takes as its theme the many strange relationships that have grown up over the years between man and his nearest living relatives.”
Random Passage: “Carpenter has introduced the term Socionomic Sex Ratio (SSR), expressed as the number of females per male in the adult breeding population, to give a quick shorthand check for the composition of the various colonies. In American howler monkeys, for example, he notes that the average group size is 17, comprising 10 adults and 7 immature monkeys.” (from “the ape as an animal”)
Goodreads Review Excerpt: “This book provides a broad overview of our association with apes through history. That history ranges from admiration and respect to exploitation and killing. Most of the material covers familiar ground. This includes, for example, Huxley's response to Bishop Wilberforce: ‘...the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means of influence and yet who employs those faculties and that influence for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion - I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape.’“ — Bob Nichols, August 19, 2011.
Notes: Married from 1952 until her death in 2018, William and Ramona Morris collaborated on several books examining humankind’s relationships with various animal species. In addition to Men and Apes, the couple wrote Men and Pandas (1966) and Men and Snakes (1968).