Jerome M. Eisenberg. Published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981. ISBN 0 07 0191409. 239 pp., including 158 colour plates.
Originally reviewed by B Coles in 1981.
Published in Journal of Conchology (1981), Vol.30
The book consists of an introduction in the first 29 pages which also include 12 colour plates illustrating a variety of shell forms. This is followed by the bulk of the plates (13-158) and these by the main text (pp. 177-219) and index.
The aim of this book, stated by the author, is to illustrate all the seashells which might commonly be met with on the shore or on the dealers' shelves. To this end he has selected some 2,600 species. It is thus a book for the beginner or casual collector rather than the specialist and must be criticised or appraised in this context. The essence of the book is plates 13-158 which illustrate the shells, grouped according to families. I tested the author's selection of species by identifying a number of common Caribbean and British shells by reference to the plates only, without reading the text. I was very satisfied with the results.
The quality of the plates is fair. Each family is shown against a different coloured background and I found this to be obtrusive in many cases, particularly when a red shade was the background colour. Multiple light sources have been used for photography (usually one from the left and right sides of the shell) which cause multiple shadows leading to a confusing background and also a rather flat image; the shadows are intentional (implied on page 219) but I do not like them. However, there has been a great deal of thought put into the selection of shells and the preparation of plates, by the author, and this overides my criticism of them. In those cases where a number of families are illustrated on one plate the different coloured backgrounds separate them at a glance. Moreover, in each family the shells are illustrated at one magnification (mostly full-size or at x2/3) so that different sized species can be compared. In a few cases this has resulted in untypically small shells having been chosen for illustration and where a large and small shell are illustrated together there is some loss of clarity due to focusing difficulties. With the Patellidae and Haliotidae it is not made clear that most of the illustrations are of the inside of the shell, but this is unlikely to lead to confusion. Below each plate are the names of the shells (with authors) the common names, distributions, 'size ranges and variations.
The introduction is short. Useful here is the description of the marine zoogeographical regions, supplemented by a map. The text gives a very brief account of the characteristics'and distribution of the families with a crude line drawing of a typical member of the family. A glossary of terms and bibliography follow. A list of societies is given but this lacks full addresses except in the case of United States societies. The author suggests that the collector contacts the relevant museum for this information but the museum addresses are also incomplete. Under England are listed the British Museum (Natural History) with the address given as London and the National Museum of Wales!
Is there a need for another shell book? Perhaps not, but this book accomplishes its author's intentions well. It is a book for working from, not a 'coffee-table' book. The layout makes it very easy to use, it is well bound and considering the number of plates, reasonably priced.