Grabau, Amadeus W., & Shimer, Hervey W.; North American Index Fossils, Invertebrates. 2 volumes. New York, A.G. Seiler & Company, 1909. Quarto, vol. 1, viii, 853, 1208 illustrations of fossils and vol. 2, pp. xiv, 909, illustrations #1209-1937.

The set is complete and in the original cloth with gilt spine titles. The bindings are tight and clean, owners name on text block edges and small oil company stamp on end sheet. The text is bright and clean. The set is in very good condition.
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This work is the precursor to Shimer & Shrock's "Index Fossils of North America". Volume 1 covers protozoa, porifera, hydrozoa, anthozoa, bryozoa, brachiopoda, pelecypoda, scaphopoda, and gastropoda. Volume 2 covers conulardia, pteropoda, cephalopoda, annelida, trilobita, phyllopoda, ostracoda, cirripedia, malacostraca, merostomata, arachnida, myriopoda, insecta, cystoidea, blastoidea, crinoidea, ophiuroidea, asteroidea, echinoidea, and contains the four appendices which cover North American stratigraphy, a faunal summary showing the distribution of species described, an excellent bibliography of North American invertebrate index fossils, and finally a discussion of fossil collecting and preparation.

Grabau (1870–1946) was born in Wisconsin to German immigrants and was one of the most influential geologists of the first half of the twentieth century. Throughout his life he remained a staunch supporter of German causes. He studied palaeontology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, 1896), and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1900).
His teaching career commenced started at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, then in 1903 he moved to Columbia University, where he taught both palaeontology and stratigraphy.
In 1910 Grabau in collaboration with Hervey Shimer published the first systematic compilation in Index Fossils of North America.The work is a treatise on those fossils best suited as index fossils or fossils used to establish geologic horizons due to their narrow stratigraphic distribution and broad geographic distribution.
His next major text was Principles of Stratigraphy, published in 1913 and that work was dedicated to the German geologist Johannes Walter (1860–1937). Today the book is recognized as a classic that was ahead of its time. It is considered the foundation for the field now called palaeoecology and contains some of the earliest principles of the sedimentary facies concept. The work tied in beautifully with Index Fossils.
Although never publicly disclosed; Grabau's support for Germany may have been responsible for his abrupt departure from Columbia in 1919. He became Professor of Palaeontology at the National University in Peking (today's Beijing), and Chief Palaeontologist of the Geological Survey of China. Grabau spent the rest of his working life in China, and his impact on Chinese geology was massive. He taught and supervised the work of an entire generation of Chinese stratigraphers and palaeontologists. At the same time he continued his research on sedimentary processes and stratigraphy, and developed ideas found in today's sequence stratigraphy. Many of these ideas can be found in his series Problems in Chinese Stratigraphy.
Grabau was imprisoned by the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese war and he died a few months after the liberation of China.