The Rev. Henry C. McCook spent years researching and writing his 3 volume set, American Spiders and their Spinningwork. The three volumes were originally self-published in 1889, 1890, and 1894, under the auspices of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (where McCook was vice-president). Primarily covering the orb-weaving spiders, there is plenty of material on jumping spiders, wandering spiders, trapdoor spiders, and other species. This is one of the most thorough examinations of the natural history of American spiders, but due to its scarcity (only a limited number of volumes were originally printed), it is not well known by spider enthusiasts today. For the purpose of this reprint, the text and figures of all three volumes have been placed in Book 1. The color plates have been placed in Book 2.