Paul,

trying to be brief:

1) I value the books more than the individual parts

2) Sometimes there are plates not part of books. We have several plates
from the Manual of Conchology which were never bound (have multiple copies
of each plate). They are not colored. Tried selling a set on Ebay, no
takers.

3) Never purchased a separate plate. Would only do so if I knew it was not
taken from an intact book.

4) In a capitalistic system, the owner of the book is free to do whatever
he/she wants to do with the book. Only wished the book was purchases by a
bibliophile!

5) Over the last 20 years, I have purchased a few books from the 1800's
with color plates, some without colored plates. As these are books not in
the Carnegie Museum's library, I will eventually donate them to the
Carnegie.


> 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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Regards,
Charlie
.................................................
Charlie Sturm
Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Assistant Professor - Family Medicine
Fellow-American Academy of Family Practice
Fellow-Academy of Wilderness Medicine

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