Conchological Books
Introduction to article by Peter Dance - Jan Light
Hand-coloured engraving, plate 132 from Volume 4 (1780) of F.H.W. Martini and J.H. Chemnitz's
Neues Systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet &c. 1769–95
Most people who collect shells or are interested in their animal inhabitants, as well as many general naturalists, will have some conchological books in their personal libraries. These books are invaluable aids for identifying mollusc species and for learning about the ways the animals 'make their living'. Despite the range of books available there is always room for another book and it seems, even with the exciting opportunities for image and information exchange offered by the Internet, the potential for conchological book publication will never be exhausted.
Natural history objects have always been admired for their beauty and this is particularly true for shells. Small wonder then that the earlier conchological books containing plates of exquisitely illustrated shells, often hand-coloured, have been sought after by a book-loving public within and beyond the conchological fraternity.
Peter Dance, author of several authoritative books on the subject, wrote an account of some of the more important contributions to the literature on the Mollusca for a special book catalogue published by the esteemed bookseller, Antiquariaat Junk. We are grateful to Allard Schierenberg for permission to make this article available to visitors to our website.
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