Yes, I am a bookaholic (1 Viewer)

Karwin, what is with these lost Puffins ending up in Finland? Read that in the news today.

I'mCombining an interest in printing with birds and bird guides.Lately I've started to collect old bird books.My current prize is a Peterson's first editiion Eastern U.S field guide.A few days ago I was given a National Geographic giude to songbirds from 1964.The color reproduction is remarkably different from what we see in today's books.The hardbound peterson's will never go into the field.It just isn't as weather resistant as it's 2001 offspring.
Sam

Tero said:

Karwin, what is with these lost Puffins ending up in Finland? Read that in the news today.

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The species has been observed in Finland some 45 times (but only once it was twitchable ie. didn't immediately leave or die). I think many of them are carried here with stormy winds from Barents Sea, and then they are seen in odd places like lakes far away from seabird routes.

Planning to feed my book addiction tomorrow when I go into Alnwick (as long as we can actually get through the snow!).
Neil and I have had a good tidy-out over the past few days and sorted out a few boxes of books to take along to Barter Books. You can take books along and they'll give you cash or you can take more books to the valuer of what they offer you for yours...basically a straight swop! LOL
Suppose it defeats the whole object of having a tidy-out (taking out boxes only to return with more LOL) BUT they have a few wildlife books which I've got my beady eyes on....and the books I've sorted out to get rid off are an awful lot of cat/dog/horse titles from when they were my main interests years ago. But since natural history is my main passion now it only seems to make sense to see what I can get for unwanted titles and swop them for ones I DO want (or need!).

GILL

I'm so glad I found this thread - I am not alone!

I am unable to pass a book shop, especially a second hand one, without calling in. I tend to go through phases - over the past year I've been through 'Russian classics', discovered Ken Follett, re-discovered 'the Brontes', and since finding BF have acquired several field guides, Bird in the Bush and loads more.

Like you Gill, I've got loads of cat/dog/horse books from over the years, but I can't bear to part with them. I keep persuading myself that they will 'come in' for the kids. My old Famous Five books have recently been recycled - my kids absolutely love them.

My addiction is doubly worrying as I have books which I never have, and have no intention of reading - my Grandfather left me his book collection which has titles as diverse as 'Organisation of the British Port Industry' and Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'.

I can't even part with old college books which will never be used again - 'The Design of Sewers'- I ask you!

Now my birding section of books is rapidly growing- I am in serious trouble, my shelves are already overflowing- I will just have to box some up and put them in the loft - I can't get rid - I must be ill, but at least now I know I am not alone! :eek!:

Believe you me Dawn, it WAS hard sorting through my books to go...I'm far too sentimental but I just kept forcing myself to think of all those lovely wildlife books that I'm going to exchange them for!
The reason we have been having a tidy-up and clear-out is because this cottage is only short-term rent as our landlord wants to, eventually, modernise it for one of his daughters. It really IS a huge old cottage but we know that our next place may not be as big so we are 'trying' to sort out any stuff that we don't actually use....it's just like sorting through one's wardrobe - just harder!!! LOL

GILL

Karwin said:

The species has been observed in Finland....

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Sorry, can't help to be off-topic: So, you had to turn to Norway to find a primeval *finn* to suit your avatar needs?

:clap:

I have a new..problem..solution..quirk. Have started reading field guides. Birds, wildlife. I read guides from areas I have visited but not birding, and unknown areas. Found some used. I read the habitat and behavior sections, nos so much the IDs.

Does this sound like a serious problem?

I do not read guides that are a particular family or grouping, but regional guides.

Andy Ledger said:

Digging up an old bone here, but I often go on about second hand bookshops near where I work. Never actually named them, have I? Well I'm not going to! They're my own personal goldmine of secondhand birding classics, all mine, you hear! Go find your own! The Shell Bird Book, James Fisher? No sweat. Birdwatching in the Seventies, DIMW? Got my eye on it - might swoop down next week. Oh, no - I'm a book twitcher...is there a helpline number I can call?

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I realise that this is an old post but:

I'm sorry you can't share with us. Isn't sharing what BF is all about?

John.

Birds in England published

Another book for your collection perhaps:

Birds in England by Andy Brown and Phil Grice
Poyser, 694pp, ISBN: 0-7136-653O-0 RRP: £40.

A weighty avifauna for England to complement the out-of-print
ones written about the Scottish and Welsh avifaunas from the Poyser
stable.

Finally got along to Barter Books today to offload a few books onto them...loads of horse/cat & dog ones....really DO need to make more room in our cottage LOL
So took them in and decided to 'just have a look' in the natural history section...FATAL!!!!!! Came out with more books than I took in LOL But at least they are all wildlife ones!!!
Got a VERY good deal on one of my older horse books....apparently it's quite rare and they offered me £45 for it!!! Wasn't going to say no, was I? LOL

Still got a few books to be taken along there in a few days' time (they only accept two carrier bags at a time) so, no doubt, I'll find a few more bird books! DID see a few today but I'm sure I can get them cheaper on Abe Books! Need to do a bit of digging and see what bargains I can find.

GILL

john barclay said:

I realise that this is an old post but:

I'm sorry you can't share with us. Isn't sharing what BF is all about?

John.

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It probably doesn't matter. Can't remember if it was Douglas Adams or terry Pratchett, but apparently all second hand bookshops in the Universe are connected by a winding series of small rooms, hallways and staircases all stacked up with books. So if you're in one second hand bookshop, basically you're in them all. Actually I know this is true - in 1991 I went into the one in Gloddaeth St Llandudno and emerged 4 hours later in Edinburgh. That's why I'm still in Scotland - I never found the book shop out.

Docmartin said:

It probably doesn't matter. Can't remember if it was Douglas Adams or terry Pratchett, but apparently all second hand bookshops in the Universe are connected by a winding series of small rooms, hallways and staircases all stacked up with books. So if you're in one second hand bookshop, basically you're in them all. Actually I know this is true - in 1991 I went into the one in Gloddaeth St Llandudno and emerged 4 hours later in Edinburgh. That's why I'm still in Scotland - I never found the book shop out.

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Good point...well made!!!

John.

Newest bird book: Lone Pine series Atlantic Canada birds. We may be going to Newfoundland, for the second time. So I could not wait and got the book. The pictures are all the same in the Lone Pine series. Only the text varies and range maps state by state or by province.
http://www.lonepinepublishing.com/

Pleased to see this thread resurrected for I too am an “orntholibraholic” and, thankfully, there’s no cure. Back in 1960 I had, I think, three bird books – the Observer’s Book of Birds (naturally) which I’d purloined from my big sister, Fisher’s Bird Recognition (but only Vol 1 which was on an extended loan from my dad) and Collin’s Pocket Guide to British Birds. I then saw a reprint of Kirkman & Jourdain’s “British Birds” which was chokablock with beautiful plates by Seaby, Lodge, Austen et al. It was vastly expensive - six guineas, 63/- or in decimal currency (which hadn’t been invented then) £3:15, but I persuaded my mum that this was going to be the last bird book I’d ever want. Of course, I believed it then, but over the next 45 years or so, as more and more juicy tomes were published, a bird book gradually appeared on every Christmas and birthday list. Getting married helped too because that meant not only my parents got me a bird book, but so too did my wife and, as they learnt nothing else measured up, so did my in-laws. Mind you that didn’t stop me buying a few on my own account so here I am with 400 odd bird books. (As my wife also likes books I guess there’s well over a thousand lurking about the house).

I have what I regard as the four great seminal books on birds in English. The oldest book, a bit of a cheat this as it is a facsimile reprint, is Ray’s ‘The Ornithology of Francis Willughby’ (1678) which was I think one of the first, if not the first, book published in English. This is full of wonderful stuff since it was written when scientific ornithology was beginning to supplant superstition and folktales. A process that wasn’t quite complete since every now and again there’s a bit which seems to say “I-don’t-believe-this-but-I’m-leaving-it-in-just-in-case”! The second has to be a nice clean 1934 copy (sadly no dust jacket and not the first printing) of Peterson’s “A Field Guide to the Birds” which I picked up for £3. Frankly it’s pretty feeble effort by today’s standards, but, although it was not, arguably, the first field guide, this was the book that defined and established the genre. The third book is the ‘Handbook of British Birds’ (1938-1941) which, like Peterson, established the genre. In fact, it did it so well that nearly 70 years on I still refer to it regularly. The final mould breaking book is ‘The Atlas of Breeding British Birds in Britain and Ireland’ (Sharrock 1976); another new genre and a reflection of what organised amateur birders can achieve.

Not in the same class in terms of influence, but still great books come following. Harrison’s “Seabirds’ as it created a whole new market in the Helm/Pica press style. Then there is James Fisher’s ‘Shell Guide’ which didn’t set any trends, but stands alone as a monument to the great man’s erudition and width of knowledge – and not least a reminder of what a shame it was he never completed his ‘Bird Recognition’ books. The only book that deserves to stand alongside this work is Ian Wallace’s provocative and eccentric “Beguiled by Birds” – great read. Amongst the myriad of picture books I’d single out ‘The Guardian of the East Bank’ – a fascinating read strewn with RAR’s un-showy, but wonderful artwork. And finally the two books which I regard as the best on identification yet published. No, despite clearly currently being the best field guide to birds ever written, I don’t mean the ‘Collins Bird Guide’ since this is evolutionary, not revolutionary. I refer to the two MacMillan guides which present a series of superb short papers on all the hard stuff. They should have spawned a new genre, but perhaps there just aren’t enough brilliant writers & artists to sustain such a development.

With apologies for the gross anglocentric bias,

John

Hi Tero

This thread has come to life again as they do.

I, like many others here love books. I have boxes of them. Anything to do with nature or otherwise. Thrillers or crime whatever.

I think the book that did it for me in the bird world was the The Readers Digest AA Book of Birds at the grand price of £4.15 (Collins Publishers) - Copyright 1969. It belongs to my mum, but I have it in my possession now and plan to take care of it. The drawings are beautiful to look at, and I love them personally.

This particular book has a paper cover, with a Grey Plover on it. It has a Tawny Owl on the hard cover.

The book is still intact but needs some serious repair work now. Just needs love and attention to the binding.

Years ago, I loved the early Gerald Durell books, as he added the humour in the right consistency as some people like himself did in that era. I felt sad when he died. I wonder whatever happened to Lee, his wife

The wildlife book that hit my heartstrings was the Gavin Maxwell book - The Ring of Bright Water. It was lovely to read, and the film was lovely, and sad at the same time too (though I would consider the film a bit outdated now) :-C

The thing is all books can be read and re-read again - no matter what they are. They are the light of our lives. :t:

I can't stop buying books, Plants, trees, birds and cooking with an assortment of other sunjects. There are some very unusual books in my collection, perhaps the most obscure is the Lichens of Antarctica and South Georgia. Trying reading that while crossing the Drake Passage (well I did do it 6 times so lots of reading time).

Interesting read, this thread. Glad it's back to life as I too am a sufferer.

Some years back I returned home to be greeted with the words "One thousand four hundred and forty-seven"
"What?"
"Bird books. You have one thousand four hundred and forty-seven bird books. Enough. No more!"

So then came my hidden libraries; a shelf at work proved useful, then a move to a job at a Bird Obs gave me a whole room there to fill with my additional titles. Had to keep swapping around with books from home to keep the total there no more than one thousand four hundred and forty-ruddy-seven..

Now with my work I'm just moving into a cottage that's being renovated, on a farm, on a floodplain. Never mind about the electrics, or getting the water on, or fitting the new kitchen, where are the shelves going if they've all going to avoid the tide????

DunnoKev
---------
Proud owner of one thousand seven hundred and thirty-five-ish bird books..


PS I only got the one thousand four hundred and forty-seven into the house in the first place on the proviso they went onto the shelves by colour coding.. Arrrgh! How do you find a reference quick when you have to remember the colour of the dust jacket!!??

PPS And I know which second hand bookshop in Kent Andy Ledger was on about as well. I'm the reason you never find really juicy books in there Andy.. ;-)

Peewit said:

Hi Tero

Years ago, I loved the early Gerald Durell books, as he added the humour in the right consistency as some people like himself did in that era. I felt sad when he died. I wonder whatever happened to Lee, his wife

The wildlife book that hit my heartstrings was the Gavin Maxwell book - The Ring of Bright Water. It was lovely to read, and the film was lovely, and sad at the same time too (though I would consider the film a bit outdated now) :-C

The thing is all books can be read and re-read again - no matter what they are. They are the light of our lives. :t:

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Missed this earlier.

Oh, yes, Durrell, entertaining, read two so far.

Tero said:

Missed this earlier.

Oh, yes, Durrell, entertaining, read two so far.

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Hi Tero

What books of Gerald D did you read?


Regards
Kathy