Patty,

I was trying to get something similar going with errata sheets for all of
the popular books but got very little support (read none).  Anyway, if you
are willing to try to work with the Compendium, I can perhaps help.  I can
update the nerite section and I can ask a friend (Bruce Neville -- one of
the authors of the new ep book) to take a look at the ep section.  He could
also really help with the cones, if he has time.

As for banged up edges, you ought to see my Compendium.  It is really a pile
of loose leafs pages now!  I kept hoping I could replace it with an updated
version.

Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA



> Dear all,
>
> The Compendium of seashells was the first serious worldwide shell book I
> had. I got the green, third reprint at considerable expense (well, at
> least- for a student) and used it a lot. But names changed, especially at
> family and genus level, and species fell into synonymy, and gradually I
> began to trust my Compendium less and less, and it started to spend longer
> periods on the shelf.
>
> So when the much-heralded 1998 edition came out, I was extremely
> disappointed to find that none of the major taxonomic changes since 1985
> had been incorporated, and, even worse, the reference list was an exact
> reprint of the 1985 edition, completely ignoring all those excellent books
> that had been published in the previous 15 years!
>
> Yet, we continue to recommend the book to novice collectors, and then go
> crook on them when they use the name Cymatiidae! What do we expect?!
>
> And I am even more disappointed to hear that the planned 2000 reprint will
> be just that - a reprint. Apparently only the cover will be changed to
> incorporate shells that look more natural than those on the 1998 reprint.
>
> What a shame, what a shame. Again, we are bringing a generation of novices
> into the hobby, who will use outdated classification, and will have severe
> trouble finding out about recently published books.
>
> We ought to do something about this!
>
> An up-to-date edition of the Compendium should:
>
> 1. Use modern classification
> 2. correct error in previous editions
> 3. have an updated reference list
> 4. possibly contain a list of major shell clubs around the world
>
> Think of it. This book is an ambassador for our hobby. It badly needs
> updating.
>
> I have about 6 copies left on the shelf. One sustained bumped corners in
> the mail. I am willing to sacrifice this copy by starting to write
> corrections in it. If we put a few heads together around the world, we
> should be able to pull it off.
>
> What do you think? Who can assist?
>
> Patty
> WWW: http://www.capricornica.com
>
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