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Crown Publishers, Inc. (1972). Index. 256pp. 8.5 x 11 inches. Hardcover. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74-160575. Over 250 illustrations, with 66 pages of illustrations in full color.
.This is the first truly comprehensive survey of seashells. It delves into all of the shells' intriguing facets — from their biology and their influence upon art, medicine, religion, archaeology and commerce to the practical aspects of shellfisheries and to the fascinating, rewarding aspects of shell collecting.
Dr. R. Tucker Abbott, assistance director of the new Delaware Musem of Natural History, has summed up his thirty-five years of conchological studies in this thoroughly interesting, scientifically accurate account of the ways of the marine shells of the world — how mollusks grow, breed and defind themselves.He enlivens the story of the wonders of the kingdom of shells with descriptions of early shell money, a travelogue of shell hunting and a history of shells in art and religion. He also provides reliable and uniquely valuable guidance about collecting and studying shells. An account of the first cultured pearls, a history of the earliest voyages for shells and an explanation of the way in which cone shells injure human beings are only a few of the diverse and beguiling subjects covered in ths far-ranging book.
R. Tucker Abbott — one of the leading conchologists of the world — is author of many leading books on seashells and editor of three scientific journals. Educated at Harvard and for years at the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Abbott now heads a new center of conchology at the Delaware Museum of Natural History. He has led numerous expeditions to the South Seas, Africa and the West Indies in search of shells. Author of many scientific monographs and intensive biological investigations, he has an unusual ability to understand and assist the amateur collector. He is an honorary member of a dozen shell clubs, a past president of the American Malacological Union and is the founder of three shell clubs. R. Tucker Abbott is a life Fellow of he American Association for the Advancement of Science and a trustee of the Bermuda Biological Station.
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