The salutation in a recent (3/6/2010) post to CONCH-L by Bernd Sahlmann
was to a couple individuals "and other lovers of old colored plates".
Count me among the collective group who appreciates the colored prints
in (or "from"  ...see below), the classic malacological (and other) works.

An old car, when disassembled to its component parts, may be worth more
money than the complete and intact old car itself.  Similarly, an old
malacological work containing colored plates seems to be worth more
(money) than the intact book itself.   I see several "vendors" selling
individual sheets of colored pages extracted from what must have once
been a complete book.

I, on one hand, am disheartened regarding this process of dismembering
(destroying!) classic works.  Although I have little opportunity to do
so today, I very much still appreciate holding/examining such "ancient"
works that began the malacology that we know today. Awesome!    At one
time, long ago, they (intact old books) were the only thing that I
financially invested in.  That said, and on the other hand, I have
succumbed to the purchase of an isolated colored plate (or two)...
cringing while doing so.   The book had already been dismembered, so why
not?  Right?    Still, idealistically, if no one ever purchased such
isolated plates then the intact books would be worth more (money) and
this destructive process for short term financial gain would cease!
Right?    Hmmmm....

Do people, nowadays, appreciate the colored prints more than the intact
work itself?  What happens to the text of these dismembered books?  Is
that not valuable too?

With someone or some organization digitizing these precious works,
eventually all of them(?), and making them digitally available to
everyone...   who cares whether the original books still exist or
whether their component parts are forever distant from one another?  Are
the books dismembered for better scanning, then distributed?

Are the original intact books "safe" only until a dealer finds them an
estate sale and dismembers them for their "more valuable" parts?   Do
individuals who have large collections of these books have a "plan" for
preserving their books, as intact as they appreciate them, when they are
no longer in possession of them?

Several questions, with perhaps some rhetorically posed, are presented
above...  but generally:
    How do you feel about the sale/purchase of colored plates extracted
from, and thereby destroying, classic malacological works?

Interested in your thoughts...
Paul Mikkelsen

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