Harry, Dan, Paul, Kurt, Martin, and all,
 
I have a rather good knowledge of Walter Webb stock/collection(s) from
purchasing a very large portion of his stock (second hand) from the George
Jacobs estate back in the mid-to-late 1970's.  Over a period of a year, I
purchased from George's wife Lena, more than 30,000 lots totalling over
100,000 individual shells; mostly land shells, but freshwater and marine
shells were also included.  There were short hand written notes and
correspondence from both George and Walter.   According to Lena, it was
George's intention to start a shell business after his retirement.  George
had purchased a large portion of the Webb material with an eye on
reselling.   As Harry and others with close affinities to the New York
Shell Club know, George died within days after his retirement from Woman's
Wear Daily and his dream of becoming a shell dealer was never realized.
 
The Webb material seems to turn up everywhere, and I assume that there must
be even more stashed away somewhere.  I actually found some more material
in a an old collection from upstate New York.  Not surprising since Webb
was a resident of Rochester, N.Y. before moving to St. Pete.    Rochester,
N.Y.  is imprinted on some of his oldest data labels.  I recall someone
once saying that a large portion of Webb's personal collection is now part
of the Field Museum in Chicago.  Can someone verify this?
 
After acquiring the stock from Jacobs estate, both Bruce Einsohn and I
sorted and divided up the material which took close to five years to
accomplish.  In most cases, each shell was individually and tightly wrapped
in newspaper.  Unwrapping the collection was the most tedious of tasks.
Researching the material was the most fun.
 
I had found amongst this material at least 50 of the land shells that were
illustrated in Webb's book, "Foreign Land Shells of the World".  His data
labels indicated that fact.  I would say that about 60% were identified
correctly.  Except for the shells with meticulous data from Pedro de Mesa
(Philippines land shells), Wolfgang Weyrauch (Peruvian land shells) and a
few other supplier/sources included in the Webb material, many had just
basic data (Philippines, South Africa, Australia, etc. etc.).
 
Working through the synonymy was an excellent educational endeavor.  Many
of the shells were tagged with older Genus and/or species names.  Sorting
and researching the Webb shells in the scattered land shell literature
proved to be the single most important influence upon my interest in land
shells.  I'm sure that anyone who has had, or will have an opportunity to
stumble upon more Webb material will agree that his shells are arguably
some of the most interesting material to add to one's collection.
 
Happy and healthy New Year to all...
 
Rich
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Richard L. Goldberg
Worldwide Specimen Shells
P.O. Box 6088
Columbia, MD 21046-6088; U.S.A.
Phone/fax:  (410) 379-6583
email:  [log in to unmask]
homepage:  http://www.erols.com/worldwide
Updated Dec. 29
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 
 
At 05:50 PM 1/1/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Martin et al.:
>
>Walter Webb published at least five editions of "Catalogue of Recent
>mollusca...from all parts of the world."  I have been trying to assemble a
>collection of these works (and his others, including the famous "Handbook
>for shell collectors," which saw at least sixteen editions).
>
>Webb and his publishers were not very fastidious about documenting the dates
>of each edition.  The first edition appeared in 1939, the second in 1945.
>There is no discernible difference in content between the 4th and 5th
>editions except that he published the former and Lee Publications, Wellesley
>Hills, MA. (no relation) the latter.  The titles varied slightly over the
>course of the editions.
>
>As a lad I wrote Webb inquiring about six then-elusive Western Atlantic
>shells.  I received an edited version of my letter on which he had inscribed
>"25 ct" next to Conus granulatus and "$1.00" opposite Tellina magna.  He
>went on to indicate that my other desiderata: Murex cabritii, Pecten
>mildredae, Pecten imbricatus, and Conus sozoni had been "sold."  That was on
>my letter dated September 2, 1955.  I don't think I tried to buy either of
>the shells.  He was 86 years old then and was to live less than two years
>longer, but I don't think I regarded him as an old man.  I had been using
>his "Handbook for shell collectors" (9th edition) since it came out in 1951.
>(Paul M. has the 7th or 8th edition).  This was one of a precious few shell
>books in my library - and arguably the most useful for studying exotic
shells.
>
>Among the destinations of large portions of Webb's collection was the late
>Major G. D. Robinson, also of St. Pete.  I bought most of the Major's
>collection from his son on Dec. 6, 1986.  There were tens of thousands of
>Webb shells (over a thousand lots of landsnails alone) and over a thousand
>of his labels, some hand-written, some commercially printed, some both.  An
>unanticipated bonus was the acquisition of a mahogany shell (drawered)
>cabinet, which I could identify from a photograph of his "conchological den"
>in that ninth edition of the "Handbook."
>
>As Kurt said, those "of semi-advanced age," despite the shock and indignity
>of senescence, can feel privileged to to pass the lore of the hobby to
>newcomers and youngsters in our fold. We veterans had one heck of a lot of
>fun getting where we are, but there's even more fascination ahead.
>
>Cheers for 1999,
>Harry
>
>
>At 02:40 PM 1/1/99 EST, you wrote:
>>Does anyone out there remember a Walter F. Webb. At a garage sale I came
>>across a 156 page illustrated price list that must be quite old. The address
>>is here in St. Petersburg, however I am not at all familiar with the
name. The
>>shell prices certainly do not reflect current values at all. Conus aurantius
>>Hwass, 1792 for $2.50  and Cassis tenuis Say ? at $2.50 for instance. Each
>>shell listed has a great description and a line drawing to go with each.
With
>>such an impressive catalog I would take it that he was a dealer of some
>>importance. I cannot find a date that this book was published. it simply
says
>>on the cover "1225 illustrations Fourth Edition, published by WALTER F.WEBB
>>2515 SECOND AVENUE NORTH, ST. PETERSBURG 3, FLORIDA .
>>
>>Just curious as to who this gentleman was or is.
>>
>>Martin Tremor
>>St. Petersburg, FL
>>
>Harry G. Lee
>mailto:[log in to unmask]
>Suite 500, 1801 Barrs Street
>Jacksonville, FL  32204
>U. S. A.    904-384-6419
>Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
>http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/wfrank/jacksonv.htm
>
>oo  .--.  oo  .--.  oo  .--.
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>