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1/8] Here's the story behind the 2nd edition. I was traveling to the UK to give a talk at Cambridge in May 2016. I arranged to spend a day at Oxford & got permission in advance to see Elton's files for a book on invasions I had long been planning to write (& still working on!) https://twitter.com/girls_can/status/1264731690515288070
2/8] I was awestruck to find Elton's proof copy of Ecology of Invasions in the archives. It was stuffed with index cards, reprints, and various typed notes that he used to inform the book. But there were also notes, reprints & news clippings post-1958 to the 1980s!
![2/8] I was awestruck to find Elton's proof copy of Ecology of Invasions in the archives. It was stuffed with index cards, reprints, and various typed notes that he used to inform the book. But there were also notes, reprints & news clippings post-1958 to the 1980s!](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY1Wf4DXkAA3V7e.jpg "2/8] I was awestruck to find Elton's proof copy of Ecology of Invasions in the archives. It was stuffed with index cards, reprints, and various typed notes that he used to inform the book. But there were also notes, reprints & news clippings post-1958 to the 1980s!")
3/8] Many pages had Elton's own penciled notes & he had inserted reference cards referring to new articles relevant to each chapter. He kept track of these articles & organized them in this proof copy, for nearly three decades after EIAP was first published.
![3/8] Many pages had Elton's own penciled notes & he had inserted reference cards referring to new articles relevant to each chapter. He kept track of these articles & organized them in this proof copy, for nearly three decades after EIAP was first published.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY1b1moWoAE90bL.jpg "3/8] Many pages had Elton's own penciled notes & he had inserted reference cards referring to new articles relevant to each chapter. He kept track of these articles & organized them in this proof copy, for nearly three decades after EIAP was first published.")
4/8] Although Elton might have kept track of these for future work, he did not published anything on the subject after EIAP. Yet he kept adding to his proof copy. In his chapter on remote islands, for example, he noted a 1972 paper on fish introductions to Hawaii (below left).
![4/8] Although Elton might have kept track of these for future work, he did not published anything on the subject after EIAP. Yet he kept adding to his proof copy. In his chapter on remote islands, for example, he noted a 1972 paper on fish introductions to Hawaii (below left).](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY1eHwnWkAA8PSM.jpg "4/8] Although Elton might have kept track of these for future work, he did not published anything on the subject after EIAP. Yet he kept adding to his proof copy. In his chapter on remote islands, for example, he noted a 1972 paper on fish introductions to Hawaii (below left).")
![4/8] Although Elton might have kept track of these for future work, he did not published anything on the subject after EIAP. Yet he kept adding to his proof copy. In his chapter on remote islands, for example, he noted a 1972 paper on fish introductions to Hawaii (below left).](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY1fVIfXsAA-DG3.jpg "4/8] Although Elton might have kept track of these for future work, he did not published anything on the subject after EIAP. Yet he kept adding to his proof copy. In his chapter on remote islands, for example, he noted a 1972 paper on fish introductions to Hawaii (below left).")
5/8] There were index cards titled Addenda to "Invasions" (he referred to EIAP as "Invasions"). They listed numerous topics & cases, and references to articles, books, maps & photos subsequent to publication of EIAP. All of this suggested Elton may have planned a revised edition.
![5/8] There were index cards titled Addenda to "Invasions" (he referred to EIAP as "Invasions"). They listed numerous topics & cases, and references to articles, books, maps & photos subsequent to publication of EIAP. All of this suggested Elton may have planned a revised edition.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY1hluJXgAUlygR.jpg "5/8] There were index cards titled Addenda to \"Invasions\" (he referred to EIAP as \"Invasions\"). They listed numerous topics & cases, and references to articles, books, maps & photos subsequent to publication of EIAP. All of this suggested Elton may have planned a revised edition.")
![5/8] There were index cards titled Addenda to "Invasions" (he referred to EIAP as "Invasions"). They listed numerous topics & cases, and references to articles, books, maps & photos subsequent to publication of EIAP. All of this suggested Elton may have planned a revised edition.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY1hppFXkAExEjA.jpg "5/8] There were index cards titled Addenda to \"Invasions\" (he referred to EIAP as \"Invasions\"). They listed numerous topics & cases, and references to articles, books, maps & photos subsequent to publication of EIAP. All of this suggested Elton may have planned a revised edition.")
6/8] When I returned home, I told Dan Simberloff what I suspected. I proposed that we produce an annotated edition similar to what Leibold & Wootton did for Animal Ecology (2001) but more comprehensive. So Dan & I returned to Oxford in 2017 to excavate the Elton files thoroughly.
7/8] We wanted the edition ready for the 60th anniversary of EIAP (2018), but negotiations with publishers went on for months. We finally settled w Springer, who owned the rights to EIAP. The original book plates were lost (!), so they scanned the text & plates from a print copy.
8/8] Dan & I worked on the chapter forewords for many months, in between our other academic & research tasks. Dan revised the entire back index. This project was a labor of love. We realized that if we did this well, it could reintroduce EIAP to a new generation of ecologists.
We spent entire days in the Elton archives reading every letter, his unpublished biographical notes, & even his course notes! Here are lecture notes for an Animal Ecology class, dealing with the topic of parasitology, disease, and epidemiology (which certainly resonate today).
As mentioned in the 2nd edn (p. 233-34), we found notes for a talk Elton gave in 1967, where he posed the question of what role uncommon species ("thin food chains") play in community stability. The role of rare spp & weak interactions in stability is now a major line of research
There were dozens of letters in the archives and they were revealing. Dan and I consumed them voraciously. Here are some excerpts of Elton's correspondence with G. Evelyn Hutchinson about origins of the niche concept.
Elton's book (especially Chapter Eight, "The Reasons for Conservation") left an important impression on Rachel Carson - as she describes in this letter to E.O. Wilson. We made a point of including many such fascinating details in our annotations to the 2nd edition of EIAP.
