The Collector's Bug

[Richard Tarleton]

Rather late in life I have started to collect Collins New Naturalist books. I had one or two for many years, but recently the local secondhand bookshop acquired a large collection and I bought the lot. There is a total of about 120 and I now have about half of them. Getting the other half will be quite a challenge.

Some first editions are now worth a fortune......

PM me if you need CM Yonge The Sea Shore (1949) or Fraser Darling and Morton Boyd The Highlands and Islands (1964).... (both 1970s reprints hardbacks with dustjackets)

[umslopogaas]

Blimey! Thanks Richard, I have a first edition of The Fulmar and I certainly didnt pay that much for it!

Thanks for the offer but the other two you mention I dont need.

[vinteuil]

Rather late in life I have started to collect Collins New Naturalist books. I had one or two for many years, but recently the local secondhand bookshop acquired a large collection and I bought the lot. There is a total of about 120 and I now have about half of them. Getting the other half will be quite a challenge.

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... have you tried abebooks?

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&kn=new+naturalist&pn=collins&recentlyadded=all&sortby=17&sts=t

( I see that Orkney and Warblers can command thousands of pounds. But you cd get the lot for abt £4,000... )

Of course, amazon may also be able to fill some gaps -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_11?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=collins+new+naturalist+series&sprefix=collins+new%2Caps%2C155&crid=NVR6XE8LTO0M

[ ... I think my father designed the book-jackets for 'Bird Life in Cornwall' and 'Birds of the North Kent Marshes' ... ]





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[umslopogaas]

Its tricky, this collecting thing. Just to cough up £4000 for the complete set seems too easy. I want the complete set, but I sort of want acquiring it to be a bit more of a challenge - and I havent got that sort of money to throw at book collecting in any case.

I think my secondhand bookseller uses abebooks. I could use it and cut him out, but I actually prefer to use someone else for online purchases, even if it does mean I have to pay his mark up.

[Richard Tarleton]

I used to have a copy - a first edn no less - of Leslie Brown's British Birds of Prey. A curious effort - he lived in East Africa (on whose birds he was an authority) and hadn't actually seen some of the spp. in the UK. Not the ideal choice of author. Publ 1976, it's notable how dramatically the status of so many of the species in it has changed, for better or worse, in the interim. Several excellent contributions to the bird titles (Warblers, Thrushes, Woodland Birds, Larks, Pipits and Wagtails) by the great Eric Simms of Dollis Hill fame

A bizarre footnote: in Leslie Brown's Wiki entry, three of his books inc. this one are described as "Ornithological thrillers" Eh?