| Exotic Conchology
by William Swainson updated and annotated by R.T.Abbott
1968, D. Van Nostrand for the Delaware Museum Nat. Hist, red cloth bind inf with gold stamped title and spine, 47 pages of modern text plus reproduced pages compiled from the 1821 and 1822 editions and complete reproduction of 1841 edition, illustrated with printed color reproductions of the original lithographs., size is 9¼ by 11½ inches (about 23.5 by 29.5cm)
This is a beautiful book and a beautiful reproduction but it was to be the first of a series of reproductions of antique shell books and the idea simply did not take off. So this is the first issue in a series of one. These books were limited to a priniting of 2000 copies and this one is copy #212. So far as I know the complete issue was never sold. Probably the book was too expensive for the time in whch it was published, and while original copies of these books can reach stratospheric prices, reproductions just don't seem to have the same appeal for people to want to own them. Any way this is a used copy, it has two stains from glasses that were set on the cover and a scratch on the cover. Inside, it is still a beautiful book. |
