ISBN 2856535178 published in 1998, Editions Du Museum, Paris, 255 pages in laminated boards, about 8½ by 10¾ inches (about 21.5 by 27.5cm), 70 page sized plates mainly in black and white and a few in color. many close up detailed photos of the shell structure.
This is one of those books that were published not all that long ago that are frustratingly hard to find today. This is the only the copy copy that we've had since the book went out of print in the year or two after it first appeared. While this work concerns only those species in the three families, Ranellidae, Bursidae and Personidae found in a relatively small geographic region, it is an extensive survey of more than 1000 collecting stations in that region. Since many of these species tend to inhabit a much larger region than the area that was surveyed the information in the book provides a valuable look at these species in broader terms than the title would indicate. There is a vast gap in the current literature concerning the mollusks in these families and this book, while far from complete, is a very valuable contribution to our knowledge and understanding of these shells. The photographs are of excellent quality and Dr. Beu when this was written was a senior scientist at the New Zealand Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences. This is a used book that could can almost pass as new except for some slight rubbing from shelf-ware on the cover and some foxing on the inside front cover, the front flyleaf and on the verso of a page with the cover information opposite the title page.