The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

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intermedius
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The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by intermedius »

Hi guys,

After a week I haven't been so active lately, so I decided to make a post for people to show off the Best of the Best. To first start out, what is your rarest book? It could be anything from Boulenger's 1896 publications, too something foreign like Ashok Captains "The Snakes of India". Show us your herping bling!

Justin
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justinm
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by justinm »

I have nearly 200 books and then other publications in my library, that are herp or invert related. I don't know what would classify any of them as rare? Maybe my favorite is a copy of Snakes and Snake Hunting, by Kauffield that Joe Collins had in his own library and he wrote his name and date he bought in on the inside cover.
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intermedius
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by intermedius »

Amazing!
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CCarille
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by CCarille »

I have a couple that I love. PA & KS field guides to snakes autographed by Joe and Suzanne Collins and a copy of a paper on coral snakes and their mimics by Joe Slowinski and Jay Savage, signed to me by Jay.
neherper
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by neherper »

a fairly rare book...systematic and natural history of the american milk snake, signed.
other signed books include the complete suboc by dusty rhoads and the 2011 kansas field guide signed by joe, also have the nebraska field guide signed by dan
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

I probably have a few herp books that are actually rare and maybe worth some money but my favorites are mostly sentimental.

Paper on Utah mountain kingsnakes autographed by Wilmer Tanner.

Salamanders of Ohio - autographed by Ralph Pfingsten

Reptiles of Ohio - Conant

Venomous Reptiles of Arizona

Herpetological Collecting and Collections Management- autographed by John Simmons
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justinm
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by justinm »

I have the Kansas Field guide signed by Joe and Suzanne as well. I also have my name in it, along with quite a few others.
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intermedius
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by intermedius »

The Rattlesnakes- Original Copy with obituary to Klauber
Schmidt's guide to snakes of the Congo 1923.
The Snakes of Honduras by McCranie signed by Kraig Adler
African Journal of Herpetology
Snake Species of the World by Roy McDiarmid signed.
The Natural History of Mexican Rattlesnakes by James B Murphy signed by him.


I bless God when I read these gems, and am so lucky to have them.


Justin
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Jeff
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by Jeff »

Bourret's original "Les Serpents de l'Indochine" published in Hanoi in 1936, both volumes, worth $1750 if you can find a copy.
Barry R
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by Barry R »

"Adventures With Reptiles", Clarence Hylander (Ross Allen) (1951)

"Last of the Ruling Reptiles", Wilfred Neill (1971) :)

"A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central
North America", Roger Conant (1975)
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intermedius
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by intermedius »

WOW!
mjd123
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by mjd123 »

I have several that are signed, including Ditmars, Kauffeld, Klauber, Conant, and of course Hubbs :lol: .
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-EJ
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by -EJ »

Popes, Reptiles of China.
Maki, Snakes of Japan... only the second edition.
Pitmans, Snakes of Uganda.
Fitzsimons, Lizards of South Africa.
My faforite... Lortets Testudo Terrestres et Paludines... original.
Bateman, The Vivarium.
Loveridge and Williams, Revision of the Cryptodira

...and a few others by Cope, Ruthven, Van Denburgh, Mertins, Schmidt among others... not really rare but not really common.
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-EJ
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by -EJ »

I've got a real obnoxious note/signiture by Hubbs... directly related to this forum. Met Conant many times... never thought to ask for him to sign any of his books... who knows why.
mjd123 wrote:I have several that are signed, including Ditmars, Kauffeld, Klauber, Conant, and of course Hubbs :lol: .
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chrish
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by chrish »

Wow, Ed, that's some collection.

I have a bunch of older books that I like. I'm not sure which ones are worth money if any. I don't collect books, I just buy the ones that interest me. I probably have > 200 herp books, but that is just a guess.

I have a good copy of Smith and Taylor (1945) "Annotated Checklist and Key to the Snakes of Mexico" (hardbound). I bought this at the first Biology of the Pitvipers Conference because I already had the matching lizard volume. Just by coincidence, I went back to my hotel to drop some stuff off and ran into Hobart Smith in the elevator and pulled out the book and he signed it for me.

Tennant's original "Snakes of Texas" (the big book). Hard to find anymore for anything less than silly amounts of money.

I have a few personally signed books (i.e. signed to me by authors who actually knew me)
- Dixon's original Reptiles and Amphibians of Texas (the hardbound one)
- several of Whit Gibbon's books

I have a bunch of older books from my childhood like my 1975 edition of the Conant Guide, signed by the kid up the road when he gave it to me for my birthday, both Kauffeld books from their original printing run, some older Indian Herp books I picked up for nothing in some Delhi bookstores, etc. I also have some obscure books like Ataev's Reptiles of the Mountains of Turkmenistan, some west African books, as well as some older OZ herp books that I bought as a kid in Australia in the 70s.

I'm not sure which books I have are the "most valuable" but several of them are very valuable to me. Maybe my emotional favorite book is a copy of Barbara Brenner's "A Snake Lover's Diary" which is a book I must have read 500 times as a kid. I finally bought myself a copy in the early 80s and I still dig it out and read it once and a while. I'd sell a lot of other books before I got rid of that one.

Chris
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keown
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by keown »

Rattlesnakes, 1972 2-volume set, Klauber
Hylid Frogs of Middle America, 1970 2-volume set, Duellman
Snakes of the Agkistrodon Complex, 1990, Gloyd & Conant
the Venomous Reptiles of Latin America, 1989, Campbell & Lamar
The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere, 2004 2-volume set, Campbell & Lamar
Texas Snakes, 2000, Werler & Dixon (The big book)
A Guide to the Snakes of Uganda, 1974 Revised Edition, Pitman
Herpetology of Mexico, 1966 Reprint, Smith & Taylor
Adventures with Reptiles, The Story of Ross Allen, 1951, Hylander
Thrills of a Naturalist's Quest, 1932 Ditmars
A Field Book of North American Snakes, 1939, Ditmars
Snakes:The Keeper and the Kept, 1969, Kauffeld
Snakes and Snake Hunting, 1957, Kauffeld
A Field Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa, 1970, FitzSimons
Reptiles of the World, 1933, Ditmars
In Search of Reptiles and Amphibians, 1988, Bartlett
Rattling Yours...Snake King, 1964, W.A. King Jr. (signed copy)
The Snakes of Arizona, 1965, Fowlie
An Annotated Check List of the Reptiles and Amphibians of Texas, 1950, Brown
Cobras in His Garden, 1965, Kursh
The Reptiles & Amphibians of Southern Africa, 1952, Rose
Field Book of Snakes of the United States & Canada, 1941, Schmidt and Davis
What Snake is That?, 1972, Visser, (signed & Remarqued copy)
Poisonous Snakes of Southern Africa & Treatment of Snakebite, 1962, Visser,(signed copy)
Lizards of the American Southwest, 2009, Jones & Lovich-Editors
The Complete Suboc, 2008, Rhoads (signed copy)
A Field Guide to the Life and Times of Roger Conant, 1997, Conant
Mountain Kings, 2004, Hubbs (signed copy)

...and some 150+ other titles.

-Gerald
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-EJ
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by -EJ »

That's a fraction of the best of the best. I used to collect books and will continue when finances allow. I collect note worthy papers also. Most of the books I got at fantastic prices from Bibliomania, Zoo Book Sales (Serpents Tale) and the CHS.

The Snakes of Texas (the one you're talking about) I found in a bookshop in a Fort Worth Mall years ago.
chrish wrote:Wow, Ed, that's some collection.

I have a bunch of older books that I like. I'm not sure which ones are worth money if any. I don't collect books, I just buy the ones that interest me. I probably have > 200 herp books, but that is just a guess.

I have a good copy of Smith and Taylor (1945) "Annotated Checklist and Key to the Snakes of Mexico" (hardbound). I bought this at the first Biology of the Pitvipers Conference because I already had the matching lizard volume. Just by coincidence, I went back to my hotel to drop some stuff off and ran into Hobart Smith in the elevator and pulled out the book and he signed it for me.

Tennant's original "Snakes of Texas" (the big book). Hard to find anymore for anything less than silly amounts of money.

I have a few personally signed books (i.e. signed to me by authors who actually knew me)
- Dixon's original Reptiles and Amphibians of Texas (the hardbound one)
- several of Whit Gibbon's books

I have a bunch of older books from my childhood like my 1975 edition of the Conant Guide, signed by the kid up the road when he gave it to me for my birthday, both Kauffeld books from their original printing run, some older Indian Herp books I picked up for nothing in some Delhi bookstores, etc. I also have some obscure books like Ataev's Reptiles of the Mountains of Turkmenistan, some west African books, as well as some older OZ herp books that I bought as a kid in Australia in the 70s.

I'm not sure which books I have are the "most valuable" but several of them are very valuable to me. Maybe my emotional favorite book is a copy of Barbara Brenner's "A Snake Lover's Diary" which is a book I must have read 500 times as a kid. I finally bought myself a copy in the early 80s and I still dig it out and read it once and a while. I'd sell a lot of other books before I got rid of that one.

Chris
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Terry Basey
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by Terry Basey »

First edition Klauber's Rattlesnakes signed by him with a photo of himself (1911 Flynn Springs, San Diego County, also signed and dated) pasted in side the cover of him holding a snake. The book was from the library of John Sloan.

Also Gila Monster And Its Allies from the library of Arden Brame Jr. and a signed Gloyd's Rattlesnakes. Oh, signed copies (by Armstrong) of the two publications on rattlesnakes by James Murphy and Barry Armstrong.
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Mark Brown
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by Mark Brown »

I didn't realize that Tennant's "big book" had become so valuable. I got a copy for Christmas from my family the year it came out....great book.

I don't know how "rare" it is, but one of my cherished possessions is my copy of Conant's Reptiles of Ohio.
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Jeff
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by Jeff »

Chrish, EJ and Mark B

Two friends of mine and I ordered the big Tennant book as soon as it was advertized. We each received a copy, and each had missing sets of plates. A second round of orders resulted in the same (following return of defectives to Texas Monthly Press). The third time we each received complete copies. I suspect that the publisher may have printed a lot of defective copies and discarded them. That may be one reason the book is rare.

Jeff
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DaveR
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by DaveR »

" Snakes and Snake Hunting" - I read it at least once a year. The only other book that I re-read yearly is "The Killer Angels", a great read about the battle of Gettysburg.

Conant's field guide - my first hard cover book. I've had it since I was a kid (under 10), and I'm turning 60 this year.

Wright and Wrights two volume field guide to North American snakes.

I had the 2 volume Klauber rattlesnake guide but I loaned it to someone @ 20 years ago. He was a recovering alcoholic, and he relapsed, left town, and abandoned all his stuff. That was the last book I will ever loan to someone.

I have "Vivarium" magazines covering the first few years of it's existence. I have a LOT of recent herp literature that I love (for the most part)
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Mark Brown
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Re: The Best of the Best I: Rarest Book/Paper

Post by Mark Brown »

DaveR wrote:" Snakes and Snake Hunting" - I read it at least once a year.
I do the same thing, and have done for almost 50 years, skipping a year here and there. I still have my first copy of Snakes and Snake Hunting, purchased in 1965....it's in pretty bad shape but I'll never let go of it. I also have my first copy of The Keeper and the Kept, purchased in '66, and in much better condition.

An old herping friend and I used to joke that we could repeat entire chapters of Snakes and Snake Hunting, verbatim....and we weren't exaggerating (much)!
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