A Guidebook Library: TLD's year-long randomised walkthrough of zoo guides

[Coelacanth18]

The only real negative in terms of this section is the fact that, like the majority of the guidebooks published by the collection, the species cited are only mentioned by common name - with no use of taxonomic names occurring throughout the guidebook.

Is this the norm for guidebooks or not? It sort of baffles me that they would omit that information on a regular basis.

Perhaps one of the most obvious indicators of the fact that, at this point in time, the collection at Walsrode was rather simpler and more humble than it would eventually become is the heavy focus within the pages of this guidebook on waterfowl and pheasants; quite literally one-third of the total length of this guidebook comprises a discussion of the sizable collection of ducks, geese and swans held at Walsrode at the time of publication.

The Wikipedia article for Walsrode says that the park was founded a year prior to this guidebook's publishing date as a private breeding facility for pheasants and waterfowl, is that correct? It's interesting to see that they already had a number of rarer species not part of those two groups only a year in.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Is this the norm for guidebooks or not? It sort of baffles me that they would omit that information on a regular basis.

In my experience it's pretty much a coin-toss whether or not a given zoo guidebook will be one of those that does present this sort of information, or one of those that does not. It isn't always a major negative; if a guidebook is quite simplistic or doesn't "feel" like it needs that sort of information it isn't an issue, but when a guidebook is otherwise very rich in information and detail (like those published by Walsrode) it definitely feels like a massive omission.

The Wikipedia article for Walsrode says that the park was founded a year prior to this guidebook's publishing date as a private breeding facility for pheasants and waterfowl, is that correct? It's interesting to see that they already had a number of rarer species not part of those two groups only a year in.

Yeah, that sounds about right as noted, this is the second edition guidebook published by the collection; the first five or six guidebooks published are approximately as rare as hen's teeth, so I definitely count myself very fortunate to have stumbled across both this one and the fifth edition via sellers on Abebooks for relatively low prices (£10 to £15 plus postage from Germany).

I've only ever seen the remaining three Walsrode guidebooks missing from my collection - the first, third and fourth editions - once apiece; the first edition was available via a seller on Abebooks for a long time for around £90, but has subsequently been sold, whilst the third and fourth editions came up for sale during one of the auctions organised by Klaus Schüling last year but bidding ended up going higher than I could justify given I was also bidding on a pretty scarce Berlin guidebook

This seems a good point to repost the following image showing my Walsrode collection in its entirety, incidentally:

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 53: Bronx Zoo (1911) - Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park

Page count: 200 pages
Photographs: 110 black and white photos
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Introduction, followed by discussion of zoo origins and location, and comprehensive walkthrough of taxonomic groups displayed at collection alongside description of major exhibits.
Map: Collection map located within opening pages; smaller maps located within introductory segments showing rough location of collection within New York.

Quite a significant collection this time round; this is the first time a guidebook for Bronx Zoo has come up for discussion, and I think there is rather a lot to be said about this one. In my experience the guidebooks published by Bronx Zoo in the first half of the 20th century are perhaps the closest North American guidebooks in general style, format and bulk to those issued by Zoo Berlin and London Zoo during their own glory days across this period, comprising solid hardback books containing a vast array of detailed information beyond the vast majority of guidebooks published even in modern times.

The guidebook opens with a general introduction to the collection, relating the fact that due to the completion or near-completion of all ongoing building works which had been in-progress within Bronx Zoo - referred to throughout this book by its formal name of the New York Zoological Park - the publication of a new edition of the guidebook was required in order to accurately present the current status of the Zoological Park, and briefly remarking on the speed at which the collection had been constructed, only slightly more than a decade after it first opened in 1899. Beyond here, an extremely comprehensive contents page relates not only the layout and subject matter covered within the main body of the guidebook, but also listing page references for each and every photograph contained within; this represents the first of several ways in which this guidebook truly is a *book* in every sense of the word.

In the broadest terms, the main body of the text can be divided into four distinct segments; firstly, a collection of statistics and essays relating to the history of the collection and the New York Zoological Society, the physical and geographical features of the site, access to the collection and admission times; followed by sections relating to the mammals, birds and reptilians held at the Zoological Park. These species accounts, as I shall relate at greater length anon, cannot be taken as entirely-accurate as regards the animal holdings of the collection at the time of publication, as many of the species cited represent taxa which were previously held at the collection, or which the Zoological Society hoped to add to the collection in the fullness of time. However, again as I will relate anon, they are extremely valuable in terms of zoo history, given the information provided pertaining to specific individuals held at Bronx Zoo in the decade or so after it first opened, the design and dimensions of the exhibits at the collection, and the "received knowledge" regarding the captive husbandry of various species.

As can be seen above, the detailed table of facts and statistics which opens the main body of the text contain a vast amount of information which is exceptionally-valuable for the enthusiast with even a passing interest in zoological history; there are many guidebooks issued by zoological collections in the present day which fail to provide even a fraction of the information presented here. It is particularly noteworthy to observe the fact that even a mere decade after first opening, and with the construction of the various planned animal houses and exhibits only recently concluded, the Zoological Park already held well over a thousand species; at a rough estimate this puts it at a similar scale (across, it must be noted, a significantly larger site) to more long-standing collections such as Zoo Berlin and London Zoo. It is also very interesting to note the information given relating to the overall distance covered by the footpaths, roads and fences across the site - this sort of information conveys the overall size of the collection far better than the area cited as the overall footprint, given the fact that the latter figure would naturally include large amounts of undeveloped space.

Beyond here, the guidebook goes into some detail about the governance of the New York Zoological Society, along with the means by which it had funded the construction of Bronx Zoo, and the general location and footprint of the collection in relation to the surrounding regions of New York City; this latter point is further illustrated by a pair of maps showing the zoo within New York, and within the Bronx region itself, and details on how best to reach the collection by various public transport routes/systems. This section is followed by details on the admission prices and opening hours of the zoo at the time of publication, along with a variety of other key items of information such as the location of the main restaurant within the zoo, and the services available to visitors to the collection. It is worth noting here that alongside the numerous photographs of the animals present within the zoological collection which are scattered within the main body of the guidebook, there are also several images showing a general overview of significant houses, exhibits and landscape features within the zoo; these opening portions of the guidebook are particularly densely packed with photographs of this nature, including the above image depicting the main entrance area at Baird Court (now Astor Court), and the below image of the Boat House and Bronx Lake.

The final - and in my opinion, most interesting - portion of the guidebook prior to the species accounts comprises a detailed discussion of the geological and geographic features of the Zoological Park, including information on how the most recent Ice Age led to the formation of deep bogs, glacial lakes and exposed granite ridges, and how all of these features have impacted the modern-day Zoological Park. Given the fact that this sort of information is seldom published within zoo guidebooks and is likely to be rather difficult to locate in non-zoological literature outside specialist accounts, I feel it is both warranted and worthwhile to present this section of the guidebook in full; as such, I have done so below.

Beyond here, the first segment of the detailed species accounts comprises around 100 pages discussing a wide variety of mammals; as previously noted, these cannot be taken to be an entirely-accurate description of those species which were held at the collection at the time of publication, as many of the species cited are explicitly stated to no longer be held in the collection, to be present only sporadically as a result of the short captive longevity of the taxa in question, or to represent species which the Zoological Society hoped to acquire in the future. For instance - as can be seen below - the passage pertaining to gorillas explicitly states that the species had only been held in a North American collection once at the time of publication that the individual in question had survived a few short days, that the species was impossible to successfully maintain in captivity due to *sulleness, lack of exercise and indigestion", and that the Society nonetheless intended to acquire any available specimens whenever possible.

However, these passages nonetheless present a vast amount of information which *is* accurate and illuminating, whether this is information on the dimensions and design of the various animal houses mentioned within the text, precise species lists for given exhibits or houses accurate to a specified date, discussions relating to the taxonomic status of some of the taxa displayed - including rather prescient musings on whether the giraffe represents a complex of multiple species - or general information about the origin of specific individual animals within the collection. Given the fact that this guidebook was published in 1911, it is certain that many (if not most) of the exhibits and enclosures discussed within the text will have been inadequate and unpleasant by modern standards; however, perhaps uniquely among the various guidebooks in my collection published during the timespan in question, there are repeated and detailed references made regarding the need for zoo enclosures to provide more space and enrichment for their occupants, and that those species which cannot be kept *well* should not be kept at all. These statements, which could almost come from a modern-day guidebook, would tend to suggest that Bronx Zoo was at the forefront of zoological development and philosophy at the time of publication. Amusingly, the text does not merely allude to issues such as visitors illicitly feeding the animals when detailing problematic behaviour prohibited within the zoo, but also more "innocuous" acts which I am certain will be all-too-familiar to members of this forum.... such as bemoaning the fact that employees of the Zoological Park had a tendency to use the Elephant House as a shortcut between two portions of the collection, and that the public were starting to emulate them!

The sections discussing the avian and reptilian collections at the zoo are similarly detailed, sharing in many of the same strengths and failings demonstrated by the mammalian species accounts, and again are extremely well-illustrated throughout both by photographs of the species held within the collection and the various houses and exhibits which contained them at the time of publication. Again, one of the biggest strengths of the guidebook as a whole is the level of detail which it devotes to discussing architectural and design choices made during the construction of the exhibits discussed within the species accounts, and in relaying precise statistics relating to the species held; for instance, when discussing the Large Bird House (which survives to the present day as the main zoo administration office complex) it makes a point of noting the precise dimensions of the house, the number of cages contained both indoors and outdoors, and the dimensions of these cages, and claims that at the time of publication it represented the largest and most spacious such exhibit within any zoo worldwide. Elsewhere in the section relating to birds, a comprehensive table is provided listing the number of bird species and specimens held in the collection as of June 1st 1911, arranged by taxonomic order. Even when one takes into account the fact that - at points - the species accounts discuss taxa which were not held at the collection at the time of publication, this is the sort of information which raises a zoo guidebook from merely "very good" to "excellent".

It would be remiss of me to omit mention of the fact that a reasonable portion of the final segment of the guidebook - discussing, as noted previously, reptiles and amphibians - comprises a lengthy description of the Reptile House at Bronx Zoo, not only relating the various groups and species present within, but also discussing the overall design and layout of the house, including the various botanical displays within the central conservatory of the building. This house was, as the guidebook relates, the very first large building constructed at the collection after the zoo first opened in 1899; it is also, unlike the aforementioned Large Bird House, still being used into the present day as a zoological exhibit, continuing to serve as the main reptile house at the collection. This, I suspect, makes it one of the oldest buildings in *any* modern zoo which is still being used for the original purpose, although I do not doubt that it has significantly improved over the intervening century!

The guidebook closes with a brief description of a temporary exhibit for insects and invertebrates which had been located within the Pavilion between the Small Mammal House and Ostrich House in 1910, the technical and husbandry difficulties inherent in such a display, and remarks that this exhibit had been sufficiently successful that the intention was to make this display a permanent part of the zoo collection; beyond here, a comprehensive index gives page references for the vast majority of the species cited within the main text of the guidebook.

Alongside the two simplified maps showing the general location of the Zoological Park within the New York area mentioned previously within this post, the guidebook also contains a highly-attractive and meticulously-labelled map of the collection itself; this is contained within the opening pages of the guidebook, not only showing the location of the various houses, exhibits and public footpaths throughout the collection, but also the large areas of undeveloped woodland and granite outcroppings dotted throughout the 264 acre site, As such, this is both an extremely interesting and useful map to the collection, and a beautiful work of art in its own right - and therefore an excellent way to lead into a guidebook as good as this one.

Despite discussing this guidebook at great length, I strongly feel that I have only scratched the surface of the content within - particularly where the individual species accounts are concerned, a section which I have covered only in the broadest of generalities. Even so, I suspect that my high regard for this book shines through, both as a guidebook to the collection to which it pertains, as a work of wider historical and zoological reference, and as a valuable item of primary historical evidence in its own right. Either way, I would be very happy to reproduce any information from within this guidebook which the readers of this post would like to know more about, or answer any questions about its content - there is, as I noted, certainly a vast level of scope for any such questions or feedback!

 

[Coelacanth18]

816 species of birds? Even for a Victorian-era powerhouse zoo like Bronx, that number is hard to wrap my head around. That likely would have been ~10% of all known bird species at that point in history, if not more?

For instance - as can be seen below - the passage pertaining to gorillas explicitly states that the species had only been held in a North American collection once at the time of publication that the individual in question had survived a few short days, that the species was impossible to successfully maintain in captivity due to *sulleness, lack of exercise and indigestion", and that the Society nonetheless intended to acquire any available specimens whenever possible.

however, perhaps uniquely among the various guidebooks in my collection published during the timespan in question, there are repeated and detailed references made regarding the need for zoo enclosures to provide more space and enrichment for their occupants, and that those species which cannot be kept *well* should not be kept at all.

I'm interested in the juxtaposition between these two statements

Reptile House

This house was, as the guidebook relates, the very first large building constructed at the collection after the zoo first opened in 1899; it is also, unlike the aforementioned Large Bird House, still being used into the present day as a zoological exhibit, continuing to serve as the main reptile house at the collection.

I didn't realize the Reptile House was that old... out of curiosity, does it talk about the husbandry or enclosures in that building in detail, or in the temporary invertebrate display? I'm curious about how they kept ectotherms indoors in a time when electric power was still a fairly recent concept and the ability to accurately control temperature and humidity may have been different.

 

[Chlidonias]

I'm interested in the juxtaposition between these two statements

I noticed that as well. The passage in the book is quite sad, "...and whenever one arrives, any persons interested are advised to see it immediately - before it dies ..."

I didn't realize the Reptile House was that old... out of curiosity, does it talk about the husbandry or enclosures in that building in detail, or in the temporary invertebrate display? I'm curious about how they kept ectotherms indoors in a time when electric power was still a fairly recent concept and the ability to accurately control temperature and humidity may have been different.

Early reptile houses, aquariums and conservatories were generally heated with hot water (the passage in the guidebook mentions this). The base of a tank was made of slate and the hot water pipes passed under the tanks; the water itself was heated by fire. At the London Zoo they additionally gave the pythons blankets.

I also have an old aquarium book (somewhere) which has a picture of heating the tank with an actual naked flame under the slate, which must have been a thoroughly inconvenient way of keeping tropical fish.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I'm interested in the juxtaposition between these two statements

The passage in the book is quite sad, "...and whenever one arrives, any persons interested are advised to see it immediately - before it dies ..."

It *is* quite the contradictory juxtaposition later Bronx guidebooks say very similar things about their various Platypus!

out of curiosity, does it talk about the husbandry or enclosures in that building in detail, or in the temporary invertebrate display?

The brief passage relating to the invertebrate display doesn't go into too much detail about husbandry or enclosures once at the zoo, unfortunately - much of the section relates to discussion of the various problems that arose in collecting the stock for the exhibition from the surrounding countryside!

It is, however, stated that in the winter the invertebrate collection was kept off-display within the Reptile House.

Early reptile houses, aquariums and conservatories were generally heated with hot water (the passage in the guidebook mentions this). The base of a tank was made of slate and the hot water pipes passed under the tanks; the water itself was heated by fire. At the London Zoo they additionally gave the pythons blankets.

With some amendments where the means of heating the water is concerned, I think this is still a fairly commonplace technique now; given it is, more or less, a form of heating developed by the Romans it is remarkably effective!

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 54: Tierpark Hellabrunn (1955) - Pelican

Page count: 48 pages
Photographs: 46 black and white photos
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Introduction, followed by general walkthrough account of collection
Map: Large fold-out map enclosed within inside-rear cover of guidebook.

Another fairly significant collection today, and one with which I am rather fond. Tierpark Hellabrunn in Munich was the first major zoological collection to be constructed around a "Geo-zoo" concept; that is to say, rather than species being displayed together in taxonomic groupings - for instance, a "carnivore house", a "bird house" and so forth - the factor determining how taxa will be grouped is the geographic origin of the species in question. In the century which has followed the opening of Tierpark Hellabrunn, this has become the dominant paradigm in Western zoological collections. Moreover, due to the close proximity of the Isar River and the resulting high groundwater level, Hellabrunn has been able to utilise a network of ditches and ponds fed with running water to form many of the barriers throughout the collection; as such, it was also among the first collections to contain a significant number of exhibits which could be viewed without bars or cages, in the style pioneered by Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg and later adopted to a much wider level at Chester Zoo. The director of the collection during the Second World War - and still in the post at the time this guidebook was published - was Heinz Heck, one of the famous/infamous Heck brothers responsible for the futile attempts to "breed back" the tarpan and aurochs, in the process creating the domestic cattle and horse breeds which bear their name now. Although Hellabrunn suffered significant damage during the war, some of the cattle there survived - unlike those located at Zoo Berlin, which represented a distinct breed with differing progenitors - and as such every individual of this breed can trace its ancestry back to the Hellabrunn herd.

Given the generally high quality of Hellabrunn guidebooks - and, as I shall relate anon, the particularly-attractive maps contained within - I tend to keep my eyes peeled for any affordable copies which may enter the secondary market; this particular guidebook was obtained a few years ago as part of a "job lot" comprising perhaps a dozen editions covering forty years or so. It can be roughly divided into three distinct segments; the first of these comprises a brief introduction written by Heinz Heck discussing the history of the zoo, the "Geo-Zoo" concept and why this was deemed superior to taxonomic display, and the advantages which the woodland river environment of the site granted to the collection.

Beyond here, the main body of the guidebook comprises a general walkthrough account discussing each of the geographic zones present within the collection, along with the three major departures from the Geo-Zoo concept; these being the Children's Farm, the Great Ape House and the Aquarium. These accounts are presented in a true "walkthrough" style; that is to say, comprising a recommended route through the collection when taken together, and with the discussion within each section more or less following this route. The quality of these accounts is reasonably good; they do not list every species present within the collection by any means, nor do they cite the scientific names of those which *are* discussed within the text, but the overall aim of conveying a sense of the collection is achieved very well. For instance, at several points the text discusses various wider subjects relating to the species or exhibits under discussion; these include an account of the attempts to "breed back" tarpan and aurochs, the design and dimensions of the exhibits within the Great Ape house, the worldwide captive breeding efforts which had taken place for both Wisent and American Bison, and various breeding successes at Hellabrunn itself over the previous decade. The text throughout this section is copiously illustrated, as can be seen from the example pages presented within this post, with a wide range of black-and-white photographs - some of which comprise full-page images.

The final segment of text within this guidebook, as can be seen below, comprises a brief summary of the opening times in place at the time of publication, along with the approximate feeding times of various species in both winter and summer; this sort of information is very valuable from a modern-day point of view, providing as it does an insight into the day-to-day operation of the collection and allowing a comparison to the modern-day collection. For instance, although Tierpark Hellabrunn currently represents one of the European collections with the most generous opening hours in my experience, opening from 9am until 5pm during winter, and 9am until 6pm during the summer months, it is apparent that (like many zoological collections in decades past) it once remained open for a significantly longer period, with the summer opening hours cited as extending from 8am until nightfall, with animal houses remaining open until 6.30pm. This is one of the major issues which affects many modern-day collections in my opinion; they often require multiple days to visit for the sole reason that their opening hours are now significantly-constrained when compared to their previous extent.

The guidebook closes with a truly excellent fold-out map of the collection; as I noted previously, one of the major attractions of the guidebook material published by Tierpark Hellabrunn through the decades, in my opinion, has always been the quality of the maps provided within. They are highly attractive and provide value not merely as items intended to inform and guide the visitor to Hellabrunn around the collection, but also on the grounds of aesthetic appeal and artistic merit. The only real drawback of the map located within this particular edition of the guidebook, as far as this thread is concerned, is that it is significantly larger than my scanner at 30x40cm and as such I have resorted to taking a photograph of the map with my camera; this has resulted in an image lacking in the level of detail and clarity which other maps within this thread have benefited from.

In summary, this is a rather interesting and appealing guidebook to a historically-significant collection, dating from a time when said collection was still rebuilding after the destruction and damage inflicted by the latter years of the war; as such it represents a valuable historical document as well as a pretty good guidebook, albeit one which is nowhere as detailed as some I have discussed in the past.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 55: Beijing Zoological Gardens (1975) - Giant Panda with cub.

Page count: 16 pages
Photographs: 22 colour photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Brief introduction, followed by selection of labelled photographs of species held within collection.
Map: Fold-out map enclosed within central pages of guidebook

A fairly brief post today, relating to a real oddity, and one which rather stretches the definition of "guidebook" as I will relate anon; however, given how unusual this item is, the interest level which I suspect it might attract from those reading this thread, and the quality of what *is* present I feel it is nonetheless worth discussing.

I stumbled across this guidebook to Beijing Zoo on eBay a little over a month ago, and despite the fact that the description and the photographs provided made it clear that there was little in the way of written content within, I nonetheless snapped it up; as I have remarked in the past, although my interests where zoo guidebooks are concerned are often very much influenced by my penchant for items providing a large amount of detail or historical context, the aesthetic appeal of a guidebook and a sense of the unusual or unique are equally important. Moreover, at the time of writing it is the only item in my zoo guidebook (or indeed map) collection from China, and therefore serves an important role through increasing how well-rounded and representative said collection is.

The non-standard format and dimensions of the guidebook, comprising as it does 10x18.5cm pages, have rendered it somewhat difficult to scan images effectively; double-pages are too large to scan, and due to how delicate the guidebook is, attempting to fold the pages down and scan a single page carries a distinct risk of damage. As such many of the scans within this post comprise double-page scans which have been partially cropped-down to remove segments which were incompletely scanned. The guidebook opens with the above brief introduction to the zoo, presented both in Chinese and English; this is, barring the various labels which are present alongside the various photographs and map within the main body of the guidebook, the only segment of text present within. The remainder of the guidebook comprises a wide selection of colour photographs showing some of the highlight species present within the collection at the time of publication, each labelled with the common and scientific name of the taxon on question - the former of these being presented in both Chinese and English.

Although I was tempted to upload the entirety of the guidebook to this thread, the aforementioned issues inherent in the scanning process and the desire to not over-load this post with images ultimately led me to scan only a select handful of images; each, as already noted, has been partially cropped to mitigate (as best as possible) the shortcomings of the format when it comes to pages being incompletely scanned. As such, the below represents a general overview, which will hopefully provide a decent insight into the general style and content found within the main body of this guidebook.

As an addendum to the above, it is worth noting that the full list of species highlighted within this guidebook is as follows:

Golden Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana)
Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)
Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens)
Siberian Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)
Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus)
Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis)
Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius)
Plains Zebra (Equus burchelli)
Giraffe (Giraffa sp.) - these appear from the photograph to be Masai.
Kiang (Equus kiang)
Milu (Elaphurus davidianus)
Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang)
Orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus)
Black Swan (Cygnus atrata)
Francois' Langur (Trachypithecus francoisi)
Golden Takin (Budorcas bedfordi)
Asian Golden Cat (Catopuma temminckii)
Goldfish (Carassius auratus)
Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis)
Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius)

However, the main "attraction" of this guidebook is most certainly the attractive and aesthetically-pleasing fold-out map contained within the central pages; fortunately, due to the presence of a title section on the left-hand side taking up perhaps a fifth of the entire sheet, I have been able to scan the map itself with little-to-no lost content. As can be seen below, this map is not only attractive, but also well-labelled both through the use of (Chinese) text and drawings of selected species present within the zoo.

Overall, although in many regards this is more of a photo-book containing a map of the collection rather than the sort of item one would usually regard as a "classic" guidebook, I feel that this nonetheless does merit the status; it is certainly just as attractive, well-presented and informative as many items I have encountered which would be indisputably classified as a "guidebook", and in point of fact, I would state that I have encountered some guidebooks which are inferior to this item where such things are concerned! As such, this is one of the surprising little gems in my guidebook collection.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Haven't had the "spoons" to get the next post completed to my satisfaction, so I thought I'd allow the thread to breathe for a day or two and hopefully provide room for more comments and feedback on the Bronx, Hellabrunn and Beijing guidebooks

In the meantime, another of my sporadic "guidebook compilations" - this time comprising all of the London Zoo guidebooks I own from the first 35 years of the 20th century the final three guidebooks in the first image, and the entire second image, represent a complete uninterrupted run from 1920-1935, although my copy of the 22nd edition from 1924 is severely damaged and lacks a reasonably large number of internal pages.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 56: Healesville Sanctuary (1971) - Lyrebird

Page count: 34 pages (including interior covers)
Photographs: 4 colour photographs and 8 black-and-white photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Introduction to collection and surrounding area, followed by walkthrough account of mammals, birds and reptiles held within collection, with short discussions on collection history, management and finances, Australian wildlife and surrounding bushland interspersed throughout.
Map: Map of collection and surrounding bushland located within central pages of guidebook

Quite a nice one today; this is one of several guidebooks to Healesville Sanctuary within my collection, and was purchased around a year ago as part of a job-lot of Australian guidebooks which were being sold by an eBay user willing to ship to the United Kingdom.

This particular edition was issued in 1971, just under forty years after the collection first opened to the public, and follows a fairly simple layout; a general introduction to the collection and the surrounding countryside is followed by a combined index/contents page, both listing the various segments within the main body of the guidebook and the corresponding exhibit numbers on the map located within the central pages. Beyond here, along with the aforementioned map the guidebook broadly-speaking is divided into three distinct segments, discussing the bird, mammal and reptile species held within the collection. Interspersed throughout these are occasional shorter discussions on the following subjects; Australian birds, mammals and reptiles; the various terminology used within Linnaean taxonomy; free-roaming and wild birds within the Sanctuary, making particular reference to Emur and Bell-miner; the history, management and financial upkeep of the collection; and information about the protected bushland surrounding the Sanctuary.

The three taxonomic sections within the guidebook are, as can be seen above and below, further subdivided into shorter segments pertaining to the particular groups and families displayed at the Sanctuary; each of these segments is introduced with a paragraph or two discussing the group in question, the ecological niche within which they occur and in some cases their specific relevance to southern Victoria, along with exhibit references noting whereabouts in the collection the taxa concerned are displayed. As such, the guidebook discusses the following groups – in some cases, where an excessively-general or outdated term has been used I add clarification in italicised brackets:

• Water Birds (discussing herons, spoonbills, ibis, cranes, cormorants, penguins, gulls, rails, pelicans and waterfowl)
• Pigeons/Doves
• Cockatoos and Parrots
• Ground Birds (discussing emu, cassowary, plovers and quails)
• Mound Breeders
• Finches
• Superb Lyrebird
• Hawks, Owls and Frogmouth
• Bowerbirds
• Other Birds (discussing assorted passerines, including raven, Australian Magpie and apostlebird)
• Platypus and Echidna
• Koala
• Kangaroos, Wallabies and Rat-kangaroos
• Wombats
• Cats (quolls)
• Dingo
• Snakes
• Lizards and Tortoises

The below image, showing the discussion of Australian mammals – with particular focus on the diversity found within the marsupial radiation - along with a portion of the subsequent species accounts, is fairly representative of the quality present within these wider discussions of Australian wildlife, being detailed and containing a wide amount of interesting information. The image also depicts one of the few illustrations found within the main body of the guidebook; there are remarkably few photographs within the guidebook, with the vast majority of those present comprising black-and-white images. The only colour photographs are provided on the front and rear cover, along with the internal cover pages. This relative lack of illustration, which leads to the text coming across as somewhat dense and hard-to-follow at times – not helped by the fact that the aforementioned segments of side-discussion are scattered haphazardly throughout the text and sometimes split sentences in half, rather than coming at the end of larger segments - is one of the few real issues I have with this guidebook.

It should be noted, of course, that despite my above caveats about the negative impact caused by the precise placement of the additional discussions found within the main text of the guidebook, the actual *content* is excellent. As is no secret by this point, I have a strong preference for discussion of a collection’s history and development to be present within zoo guidebooks, along with other supplementary material of this nature; despite the relatively brief nature of this guidebook, the section depicted in part above discussing the historical background to Healesville Sanctuary, the management and funding structures in place at the collection, and the ongoing expansion and planned development of the Sanctuary is truly excellent, with levels of detail often not reached in far lengthier guidebooks. I am particularly impressed with a table provided at the end of this segment listing the various major construction projects which had taken place at Healesville Sanctuary between 1937 and 1969, detailing how much they cost and the main sources of funding for each – including notable donations and sponsors.

Similarly, I rather like the discussion of the bushland and other countryside surrounding the Sanctuary which closes the guidebook, detailing the reasons why it remained relatively untouched and intact, the general character of the bushland in terms of vegetation and terrain, and future plans for the development of this area for the purposes of nature trails and other public access; along with a much shorter segment towards the start of the guidebook discussing some of the same topics, this section provides a valuable insight into the setting within which the collection at hand is located. This, again, is the sort of information which I feel should be presented within zoo guidebooks more often – especially when they pertain to collections intended to highlight the native fauna and flora of their environs.

As noted previously, the central pages of the guidebook contain a highly-detailed and methodically numbered map of Healesville Sanctuary and the surrounding Coranderrk Bushland; not only is this map rather attractive to look at, but when consulted alongside the various exhibit numbers provided alongside the species accounts within the main body of the guidebook it represents an extremely informative guide to the precise location of the species displayed within the collection at the time of publication. The one drawback inherent to the map, to be honest, is that the densely-packed vegetation linework used to represent the bushland located within the Sanctuary – when combined with the fact that the entire map is presented in black-and-white – can make it difficult to immediately pinpoint text and numbers at a glance, where an exhibit is located in close proximity to such vegetation.

This is, in summary, a rather interesting and high-quality guidebook – albeit one with a small number of definite faults which could have easily been remedied or averted – which presents a large amount of information about the collection to which it pertains, and paints a very clear picture about what the collection may have been like at the time of publication. Definitely one I could talk about in greater detail, particularly where the (rather comprehensive) species lists presented are concerned – but for now, I shall leave the floor open for questions and feedback!

 

[birdsandbats]

Day 56: Healesville Sanctuary (1971) - Lyrebird

Page count: 34 pages (including interior covers)
Photographs: 4 colour photographs and 8 black-and-white photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Introduction to collection and surrounding area, followed by walkthrough account of mammals, birds and reptiles held within collection, with short discussions on collection history, management and finances, Australian wildlife and surrounding bushland interspersed throughout.
Map: Map of collection and surrounding bushland located within central pages of guidebook

Quite a nice one today; this is one of several guidebooks to Healesville Sanctuary within my collection, and was purchased around a year ago as part of a job-lot of Australian guidebooks which were being sold by an eBay user willing to ship to the United Kingdom.

This particular edition was issued in 1971, just under forty years after the collection first opened to the public, and follows a fairly simple layout; a general introduction to the collection and the surrounding countryside is followed by a combined index/contents page, both listing the various segments within the main body of the guidebook and the corresponding exhibit numbers on the map located within the central pages. Beyond here, along with the aforementioned map the guidebook broadly-speaking is divided into three distinct segments, discussing the bird, mammal and reptile species held within the collection. Interspersed throughout these are occasional shorter discussions on the following subjects; Australian birds, mammals and reptiles; the various terminology used within Linnaean taxonomy; free-roaming and wild birds within the Sanctuary, making particular reference to Emur and Bell-miner; the history, management and financial upkeep of the collection; and information about the protected bushland surrounding the Sanctuary.

The three taxonomic sections within the guidebook are, as can be seen above and below, further subdivided into shorter segments pertaining to the particular groups and families displayed at the Sanctuary; each of these segments is introduced with a paragraph or two discussing the group in question, the ecological niche within which they occur and in some cases their specific relevance to southern Victoria, along with exhibit references noting whereabouts in the collection the taxa concerned are displayed. As such, the guidebook discusses the following groups – in some cases, where an excessively-general or outdated term has been used I add clarification in italicised brackets:

• Water Birds (discussing herons, spoonbills, ibis, cranes, cormorants, penguins, gulls, rails, pelicans and waterfowl)
• Pigeons/Doves
• Cockatoos and Parrots
• Ground Birds (discussing emu, cassowary, plovers and quails)
• Mound Breeders
• Finches
• Superb Lyrebird
• Hawks, Owls and Frogmouth
• Bowerbirds
• Other Birds (discussing assorted passerines, including raven, Australian Magpie and apostlebird)
• Platypus and Echidna
• Koala
• Kangaroos, Wallabies and Rat-kangaroos
• Wombats
• Cats (quolls)
• Dingo
• Snakes
• Lizards and Tortoises

The below image, showing the discussion of Australian mammals – with particular focus on the diversity found within the marsupial radiation - along with a portion of the subsequent species accounts, is fairly representative of the quality present within these wider discussions of Australian wildlife, being detailed and containing a wide amount of interesting information. The image also depicts one of the few illustrations found within the main body of the guidebook; there are remarkably few photographs within the guidebook, with the vast majority of those present comprising black-and-white images. The only colour photographs are provided on the front and rear cover, along with the internal cover pages. This relative lack of illustration, which leads to the text coming across as somewhat dense and hard-to-follow at times – not helped by the fact that the aforementioned segments of side-discussion are scattered haphazardly throughout the text and sometimes split sentences in half, rather than coming at the end of larger segments - is one of the few real issues I have with this guidebook.

It should be noted, of course, that despite my above caveats about the negative impact caused by the precise placement of the additional discussions found within the main text of the guidebook, the actual *content* is excellent. As is no secret by this point, I have a strong preference for discussion of a collection’s history and development to be present within zoo guidebooks, along with other supplementary material of this nature; despite the relatively brief nature of this guidebook, the section depicted in part above discussing the historical background to Healesville Sanctuary, the management and funding structures in place at the collection, and the ongoing expansion and planned development of the Sanctuary is truly excellent, with levels of detail often not reached in far lengthier guidebooks. I am particularly impressed with a table provided at the end of this segment listing the various major construction projects which had taken place at Healesville Sanctuary between 1937 and 1969, detailing how much they cost and the main sources of funding for each – including notable donations and sponsors.

Similarly, I rather like the discussion of the bushland and other countryside surrounding the Sanctuary which closes the guidebook, detailing the reasons why it remained relatively untouched and intact, the general character of the bushland in terms of vegetation and terrain, and future plans for the development of this area for the purposes of nature trails and other public access; along with a much shorter segment towards the start of the guidebook discussing some of the same topics, this section provides a valuable insight into the setting within which the collection at hand is located. This, again, is the sort of information which I feel should be presented within zoo guidebooks more often – especially when they pertain to collections intended to highlight the native fauna and flora of their environs.

As noted previously, the central pages of the guidebook contain a highly-detailed and methodically numbered map of Healesville Sanctuary and the surrounding Coranderrk Bushland; not only is this map rather attractive to look at, but when consulted alongside the various exhibit numbers provided alongside the species accounts within the main body of the guidebook it represents an extremely informative guide to the precise location of the species displayed within the collection at the time of publication. The one drawback inherent to the map, to be honest, is that the densely-packed vegetation linework used to represent the bushland located within the Sanctuary – when combined with the fact that the entire map is presented in black-and-white – can make it difficult to immediately pinpoint text and numbers at a glance, where an exhibit is located in close proximity to such vegetation.

This is, in summary, a rather interesting and high-quality guidebook – albeit one with a small number of definite faults which could have easily been remedied or averted – which presents a large amount of information about the collection to which it pertains, and paints a very clear picture about what the collection may have been like at the time of publication. Definitely one I could talk about in greater detail, particularly where the (rather comprehensive) species lists presented are concerned – but for now, I shall leave the floor open for questions and feedback!

That's an interesting way to spell Budgerigar.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Have a half-written post or two which were started before I went on a mini-break up in Scotland on Sunday; back home now and feeling thoroughly exhausted, so a shorter and more free-form post will be coming in the next few hours - a review of a guidebook I purchased whilst up in Scotland knocking off a new collection for my life-list, done with zero planning and entirely based on first impressions.

Barring the title and information summary, which I will manually type out beforehand, the post will comprise speech-to-text dictated into my phone to ensure a) that I don't take hours over writing up my thoughts and b) the review *is* entirely based on first impressions, with only minor grammatical polishing afterwards. Hopefully trying something a little new might boost interest and engagement a tad after the abject damp squib of the last post!

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 57: SEALIFE Loch Lomond (2018) - Eagle Ray

Page count: 34 pages (including interior covers)
Photographs: 62 colour photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: 26 simple drawings dotted throughout text
Layout: Brief introduction to SEALIFE and Loch Lomond site, followed by various pages discussing various aspects of the Sealife aquariums, assorted items of trivia about marine species and the overseas work of the organisation.
Map: N/A

Today we will discuss the one of the most recent additions to my guidebook collection, purchased only 48 hours ago when visiting the collection to which it pertains. As noted above, this post has been entirely written with speech-to-text, in the hope of producing a quicker and more freeform end product. As such it will take the form of a general summary of the contents of the guidebook, discussing each section in turn, as opposed to a more detailed analysis

The guide books published by the Sea Life aquarium chain have a tendency to be somewhat generic; unfortunately this edition is no exception. This is a particular pity considering the fact that the Loch Lomond centre is one of the more unique and high quality that I have visited, being located in a stone tower on the shores of the loch itself, containing a large number of exhibits specifically focused on local marine and river habitats, and with the more exotic exhibits often straying from the usual "identikit" format seen in Sea Life centres.

The bulk of this guidebook - published in 2018 - is more or less identical to the editions published elsewhere in the Sea Life chain around this time, opening with a brief introduction to the history of the chain mentioning its origins at the Oban seal sanctuary and its expansion to cover over 50 aquariums around the world, followed by a handful of pages focusing on the specific aquarium in question, and concluding with a variety of pages discussing more general topics relating to marine life and the Sea Life chain.

As noted previously the Loch Lomond site is unusually high quality where aquariums in this chain are concerned; however, even the segments of text relating to this aquarium in particular seem rather simplistic, albeit densely illustrated by colourful photographs and simple line drawings of a variety of marine animals. The first of these double-page spreads gives a very brief introduction to the collection, interspersed with a small number of points relating to highlight sections of the aquarium, and trivia relating to the inhabitants. Beyond here is a section focusing specifically on the Asian Short-Clawed Otters held at the aquarium, with brief mention made of fieldwork pertaining to the native otters on the Isle of Skye. The final site-specific segment of this guidebook relates to the coastal conservation work with native shark species which Sea Life Loch Lomond is involved in, alongside the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network.

Beyond here there are more general sections relating to Sea Life Centres, their work in various parts of the world, and some of the species which are commonly found within their aquariums. These comprise the bulk of the text within this guidebook, and open with a section discussing the design, capacity, temperature and maintenance of the various tanks found within the centres. This is followed by sections containing discussion of quarantine facilities and species enrichment, the involvement which Sea Life Centres have with rescue and rehabilitation of marine animals (citing, for example, work undertaken in the Bay of Bothnia in response to oil spills), and the qualifications required to work within a Sea Life Centre as an aquarist. The central pages of this guidebook are taken up with a selection of trivia and information relating to a variety of marine and aquatic animals, such as otters, crabs, seahorses, and penguins. These are all accompanied by colour photographs, and often childish and facile captions/remarks.

However the two double-page spreads which follow are possibly the best and most in-depth portions of this generic section of the guidebook, giving further details about the rescue and the rehabilitation work of the Sea Life chain. The first of these gives information relating to the rescue of seals around the British and western European coastline, and information on how to respond if one was to encounter a stranded seal themselves; it is stated that the Sea Life Blankenberge site cares for dozens of stranded baby seals every year, and that since 2013 the organisation has rescued almost 600 seals worldwide. The second of these segments focuses on the turtle rescue activities undertaken by the chain; the case study given details the chain of events from initial rescue, through rehabilitation and treatment at Sea Life Weymouth, to re-release in the Canary Islands of a loggerhead turtle rescued off the Isles of Scilly in January 2016. This section was particularly interesting given the fact that at the time of my visit several days ago, Loch Lomond not only displayed a rehabilitated but un-releasable Olive Ridley Turtle - the first time I had seen this species - but was also the site of behind-the-scenes care of another rescued loggerhead turtle.

The guidebook then moves onto a pair of double-page spreads discussing the diet of the various animals displayed within the aquarium, their feeding schedules and the methods required to feed certain species, and the storage facilities required for the food, noting that larger aquariums need sizable walk-in freezers, whilst smaller ones such as Loch Lomond itself require only one or two small chest freezers. By the standards of Sea Life guidebooks, this section - much like the preceding one - is relatively well presented and detailed, and feels less dumbed down and childish then many of the earlier portions of the guidebook. Similarly, the following section on the nocturnal activities of aquarium inhabitants was relatively interesting, for instance noting that species such as corals and octopuses are nocturnal, and therefore are generally more active after the aquarium has closed, whilst species such as penguins or turtles tend to sleep at these times.

The guidebook closes with a world map highlighting the various conservation projects and activities around the world with which the Sea Life Trust is involved, both large scale (coral reef restoration an the creation of Marine Protected Areas) and more localised (beach cleaning operations).

Overall then, this guidebook is actually rather good (other than a sometimes childish tone) although the fact that it by-and-large serves as a guidebook to the Sea Life chain as a whole, and does not pertain all that much to the collection for which it has been published, strikes me as something of a pity considering how unique and unusual the Loch Lomond site is. Ironically, the opening segments - the only portions of the guidebook to directly pertain to Sea Life Loch Lomond - are possibly the poorest! As such, I would argue that if one has already got another guidebook from this particular edition issued across the chain (all of which share the same cover), there is little point in going out of your way to track down this specific guidebook; however, if one was to visit the Loch Lomond centre it would still be worthwhile obtaining this guidebook in passing.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 58: Loch Lomond Bear Park (1972) - Polar Bears

Page count: 14 pages (including interior covers)
Photographs: c.28 colour photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Brief introduction to collection, followed by discussion of species on exhibit, Loch Lomond and surrounding area, and the management/owners of the collection.
Map: Within interior front cover

This time round, I have decided to bring forward the discussion of one of the guidebooks which was randomly selected for a few days time; this decision was taken given the relevance it has to the immediately-preceding guidebook, my continued writers-block as regards the guidebook which was intended to come next, and the fact it is a fairly brief guidebook which should be relatively simple to discuss. Loch Lomond Bear Park was situated on the south-west shores of the eponymous loch, fewer than 300m from the present-day site of the Sea Life Centre which I discussed recently; in fact, Loch Lomond Bird of Prey Centre - which I visited last week, at the same time as Sea Life Loch Lomond - is located within the southernmost part of the former grounds of the Bear Park, roughly between the pay kiosks and the Polar Bear paddock visible within the map of the Bear Park located within the interior front cover of the guidebook.

Loch Lomond Bear Park, a joint venture between Jimmy Chipperfield, Sir John Muir of Blair Drummond Safari Park, and Patrick Teller-Smollett, the owner of the Cameron Estate on which the collection was located, was very short-lived as zoological collections go, remaining open for only a handful of months before financial issues and friction between the three parties at the helm led to closure in late 1972. The collection re-opened as Cameron Bear Park in 1975, this time under the sole management of the Teller-Smollett family, and survived for a little over a decade before finally closing down, with the bulk of the site redeveloped as a hotel, golf course and luxury resort. One of the more curious oddities of this latter period is the fact that the Bear Park was used as a music festival venue on a number of occasions, playing host to bands such as The Jam, Lindisfarne, Saxon and The Stranglers. At any rate, this guidebook was produced before the collection originally opened and as such cannot be entirely taken as an accurate depiction of Loch Lomond Bear Park during the short timespan it was initially open; for instance, a footnote in the copyright information at the rear of the guidebook notes that all photographs used were taken at other zoos and safari parks around the United Kingdom. It is, nonetheless, an interesting primary resource pertaining to a closed collection - and as such, serves an important purpose as a document of zoological history.

The main body of the guidebook opens with a general introduction to the Bear Park, discussing the main parties involved in founding the collection, the general layout and contents of the three main drive-through reserves located within the park along with the waterfowl and domestic animal exhibits situated around the manor house, and giving a general overview of the rules and regulations applying to visitors. This section also discusses the various safety measures which were planned to be in place at the time of the collection's opening, including patrol vehicles manned by a team of wardens, four-metre tall fencing and a system of lock gates. Beyond here, the guidebook continues with a series of discussions of the various bear species intended to be displayed within the central drive-through reserves within the collection. These are, as one would tend to expect given the fact that this guide book was written and produced before the Bear Park opened, fairly generalised in content and give little-to-no accurate information about the collection in question; however, they are all lushly-illustrated with several colour photographs which were, as previously noted, taken at various zoos and safari parks around the UK. As such, despite the brevity of this section, it is nonetheless rather pleasant to read and look at.

The species accounts within the guidebook conclude with a pair of double-page sections discussing the small handful of animal exhibits beyond the three main drive-through reserves; a "waterfowl sanctuary" comprising a series of ponds and islands stocked with various waterfowl, and which the guidebook states was intended to also include native Scottish species such as European Otters in the future; and a series of domestic exhibits located within the walled garden of Cameron House itself. The last section also mentions plans for a Safari Restaurant to be built in 1973; given the closure of the Bear Park not long after it initially opened these plans presumably came to naught, at least in the short term. After a brief discussion of Loch Lomond, its environs and the various steamer trips around the Loch visible from the nearby pier in the village of Balloch, the guidebook concludes with a pair of short biographies pertaining to Jimmy Chipperfield and Patrick Telfer-Smollett, along with an advertisement for Blair Drummond African Safari Park.

To conclude; this guidebook is quite possible not an entirely-accurate depiction of the Loch Lomond Bear Park at the time it first opened, and given the fact that the collection closed not long afterwards, any accuracy may well have been short-lived. However, as a record of the original intentions and plans held by the owners of the Bear Park, and as a historical document pertaining to a zoological collection which was very short-lived, it is invaluable. This is the case even one takes into consideration the fact that the Bear Park re-opened for a time, and seems to have met with slightly more success given the fact this "second life" lasted over a decade; certainly I think it is quite possible that no member of this forum visited the collection during either period it was open, given the paucity of information on Zoochat relating to the Bear Park. Moreover, this is a well-illustrated and attractive document in its own right, and therefore also has aesthetic merit.

 

[Chlidonias]

"Now, Mr Telfer Smollett and Mr Chipperfield, for the photo in the guidebook for this bear park I want you both to be holding a goat by its horns."
"Won't the goat just be trying to get away?"
"Oh, absolutely! But we'll make sure we use the photo where the goat is most clearly trying to get away."
"Er, okay ... is this supposed to imply that we are about to feed the goat to the bears?"
"Maybe, and also I want you both to lean over to the right as far as you can without falling over."
"That might look a tad ridiculous I think."
"Look, can you do it or not? I promise it will make the perfect shot."
"Are you sure you're a professional photographer?"

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 59: Lambton Lion Park (1972) - Lion Head

Page count: 14 pages (including interior covers)
Photographs: c.28 colour photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Brief introduction to collection, followed by discussion of species on exhibit, visitor information, and an account of one of the expeditions to capture stock for the Chipperfield parks.
Map: Within interior front cover

From one unsuccessful zoological enterprise to another; given the close thematic link between Lambton Lion Park and Loch Lomond Bear Park, both comprising safari-themed collections which first opened in 1972 as the brainchild of Jimmy Chipperfield and which (unlike the crop of other such collections opening around this time) would fail to establish themselves successfully on the UK zoological scene, I thought it would be appropriate to scan this one in for discussion.

Lambton Lion Park, which would have been the closest thing to my "local collection" had it survived given the fact that it was located fewer than 10 miles from where I am now sitting, seems to be a zoological collection which has been all-but forgotten in the Tyne and Wear area since closing in 1980; certainly I had never heard of the existence of the collection before joining Zoochat, despite the fact that it had existed in close proximity to the area in which I grew up. Similarly, I suspect the precious few members of this forum ever visited the collection whilst it was open; the few references to the collection which do exist on the forum appear to have been made by members who have long since been absent, for better or for worse. Given the relative obscurity of this collection, and the relatively brief span of time which it was open, it is perhaps not surprising that guidebooks for the collection are somewhat rare; in the time that I have been collecting guidebooks in earnest, I have only come across two copies of a guidebook for Lambton Lion Park on eBay. Although I was unsuccessful in obtaining one, an edition published several years into the existence of the Lion Park, I was able to secure this inaugural edition with relative ease.

The guidebook opens with a map of the collection and the surrounding Lambton estate; this is fairly simplistic, and not all that attractive on an aesthetic level, but nonetheless seems to present a fairly accurate depiction of the Lion Park at the time of publication, showing the route through the various sections of the drive-thru reserve along with the secondary animal exhibits located closer to Lambton Castle. This is followed by a general introduction to the collection; much as was the case with Loch Lomond Bear Park, the origins of this collection lie in Jimmy Chipperfield approaching the owners of a stately home and estate with a proposal to open one of his safari parks within their lands. As such, this introductory segment goes into some detail about the events which lead to the collection opening, the general location and situation of the Lion Park within County Durham and the Tyne and Wear conurbation, and the safari park concept pioneered by Chipperfield.

The main body of the Guidebook comprises a species-by-species account of the various exhibits located within the lion park at the time of publication, with each account being copiously illustrated by colour photographs taken both at the Lion Park and other Chipperfield zoological collections. The level of information provided is remarkably good considering the relatively brief and simplistic nature of the text overall; moreover, reference is sometimes made to details pertaining to the Lambton animals in particular, such as the way that the lions at the collection had adapted to the cool north-east English climate. As one can imagine from the fact that this guidebook was published relatively soon after Lambton Lion Park first opened, the list of species held at the collection is somewhat brief; one presumes that if the collection had survived longer, the intention was to expand and enlarge the collection accordingly. As it stands, the guidebook makes it clear that at the time of publication the drive-through reserve was broken up into six subsections; firstly, a savannah exhibit displaying giraffe; secondly, a mixed exhibit containing Eland, Blue Wildebeest and Grevy's Zebra; thirdly, a small pond exhibit for common hippopotamus fringed by a small grassland paddock; fourth, the main lion reserve; fifth, a large paddock for African elephant, ostensibly sourced from wild populations which have expanded to the point of being subject to culling; and finally, a drive-through reserve for baboons.

The guidebook continues with a short discussion of the various exhibits located closer to Lambton Castle itself - including a small Pets Corner and an exhibit for brown bears - along with facilities and amenities available for visitors to the collection, and advice on how best to take photographs whilst in a moving car within the main reserve. Beyond here, the guidebook concludes with a rather interesting segment relating to one of the regular safari expeditions to Africa which took place with the intention of collecting wild animals for the various Chipperfield safari parks and circuses within the United Kingdom; in this case an account of an expedition to Uganda, during which Richard Chipperfield specifically sort elephants for capture and export. This information, pertaining as it does to the source of the animals used within the safari parks and circuses of the time, is rather interesting and give a valuable insight into the operation and background of this collection and those like it at the time of publication.

Overall then, this is an interesting look at a collection which, had things been otherwise, I could well have ended up visiting throughout my youth; the level of information and aesthetic presentation of the guidebook are both rather good, adding to the general appeal of the item as a whole. Moreover, it represents an important primary resource as regards the history of closed zoological collections in the United Kingdom; therefore, as is the case with many such publications by zoological collections which have subsequently closed, this guide book carries more intrinsic value and notability than it was ever intended to possess.

 

[NigeW]

I'm still here Dave, I can claim to have been, around three or four times.

It opened when I was a little lad, and I grew up locally. In fact, stronger than my memory of visiting the park itself is the memory of the very regular ritual of spotting the giraffes over the wall as we drove to Chester-le-street to see family.

Anyway, memories of the place? well there seemed to be much less there than other safari parks I've been to in later life, and to be honest, it probably tainted my view of safari parks in general, as it had a reputation as a "pay quite a bit to see not a lot" sort of attraction, and get your car damaged by baboons for good measure. I didn't try another safari park until many years later in my mid twenties. That said, yes, I can pretty much picture it as the guidebook portrays it, except the hippo, which I don't recall.

Its a shame it didn't last, as I'm sure as you suggest it could have grown to be comparable to modern safari parks and been quite an attraction. But I understand it struggled to get people to to come back again and again. Certainly, as a family we didn't - and tended to go to Flamingo Park which was much much further away.

Anyway, the place still crosses my mind every now and then - great to see a guidebook from there. I don't have one - and again, that tends to chime with my memory of my folks thinking the place was a bit overpriced.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

The next three guidebook posts will attempt something slightly different; as I have noted previously, I have decided that whenever a guidebook pertaining to Zoo Berlin is randomly selected, in order to provide a more comprehensive picture of the growth and development of the collection I will discuss the next chronological guidebook in my collection, rather than the precise edition selected. As the previous Zoo Berlin guidebook discussed was the 1901 edition, this means that the next edition to be discussed would be the 1903 guidebook.

However, the 1903, 1905, and 1906 guidebooks each more-or-less represent updated and edited versions of a single edition; as such, if I were to discuss these guidebooks in separate posts several weeks apart, I would potentially end up covering the same ground multiple times. It strikes me as much more sensible to discuss these three guidebooks one after another, highlighting the ways in which they differ from one another, and the developments and changes within the zoo visible across the timespan covered. This also means that where the binding strength or condition of a given guidebook makes it difficult to photograph or scan a given segment in one edition, I may be able to provide it in one of the accompanying posts relating to one of the "sister" editions.

Therefore, the next three guidebook posts will cover these consecutive editions. I will also be continuing my experiment with speech-to-text software, as I feel this produces a more natural-sounding end result and the last few posts have been written significantly more rapidly using this software.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 60: Zoo Berlin (1903) - Red Deer Stag

Page count: 120 pages (including photographic plates)
Photographs: c.30 black and white photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: c.35 illustrations of animals, houses and exhibits, and assorted advertisements
Layout: Comprehensive walkthrough account of collection, preceded by historical account of Zoo Berlin and with assorted advertisements throughout.
Map: Fold-out at rear of guidebook

As I suspect will be the case for most - if not all - of the posts I make regarding guidebooks issued by Zoo Berlin throughout the 20th century, one of the first observations that must be made about this guide (and the two editions which follow) is the aesthetic appeal and quality of the front cover image. All three editions share this beautiful and striking Art Nouveau image of a red deer, with the animal itself stripped of all colour, and its surroundings rendered in vivid oranges and greens; although very much of its time, in some ways the use of artwork in a guidebook cover ages better than a mere photograph.

The rear cover of the guidebooks issued by Zoo Berlin during the early decades of the 20th century tended to include an advertisement for some service or product available within Berlin; moreover, within the main body of the guidebook, further advertisements would be scattered throughout. In the three editions I will be discussing over the coming days, these usually either comprised full-page advertisements including illustrations, or smaller text-only advertisements located at the bottom of a given page. In the 1903 edition, these extend from adverts promoting the services of local jewellers, tailors and food merchants, through a variety of restaurants, cafes and public houses, to more unusual subjects such as opticians, butchers and fishmongers. Unfortunately, the binding on this edition is relatively tight, making it somewhat difficult to scan pages from this guidebook without blurring and loss of focus; as such, the only examples visible here comprise the advertisement on the back cover, and the one on the interior front-cover as seen on the below image showing the title page of the guidebook. This is also the reason why several of the scanned pages below have segments of text omitted.

The guidebook opens with a lengthy and detailed discussion of the history of the zoo Berlin, covering over a dozen pages in total; it is reasonable to assume that this comprises an expanded and updated version of the similar passages found in the 1899 and 1901 guide books, although given the continued presence of the old-fashioned and ornate font style used within these two guidebooks, it is somewhat difficult for me to read these sections to my satisfaction and judge whether this is indeed the case or not - although it is still my intention to learn how to correctly interpret this typeface, in order that the historical accounts within can be replicated for Anglophone zoo enthusiasts, and I feel I am gradually getting the hang of it.

As I have noted on several occasions in the past, I strongly feel that provision of this kind of information within zoological publications is vitally important, particularly in the case of zoological institutions of this significance and scale. It is worth mentioning here that the various segments of this guidebook are liberally illustrated by attractive drawings of significant structures, houses, and exhibits; these serve both as title headers, illustrations showing the exhibits under discussion, and as aesthetically-appealing items of artwork in their own right. In this case, the historical discussion is opened with an attractive drawing of the Wiener Kaffeehalle, located on the southeast perimeter of the zoo; however, the second illustration present within this segment of the guidebook is far more notable on both aesthetic and historical grounds. Halfway through the historical account, a full-page illustration depicts numerous of the animal houses and exhibits as they appeared in 1849, only five years after Zoo Berlin originally opened; as one can imagine, several of these resemble simplified forms of some of the illustrations visible within the 1866 guidebook which opened this thread. Given the fact that even at the time this guidebook was published, the environs and structures of the zoo will have been nigh-unrecognisable from the early days of the collection, and that precious little material relating to the zoo's early days survives into the present day, this is an incredibly interesting and historically-significant illustration in my opinion.

The main body of the guidebook, as was the case for the 1899 and 1901 guidebooks, comprises a comprehensive and methodical walkthrough account of the collection at the time of publication, detailing the various animal houses and exhibits, along with the species held within. Unlike the 1901 edition, these accounts are once again fully-illustrated with a wide variety of attractive drawings depicting the exhibits and houses in question, along with various photographic plates showing highlight species held within the collection. Several of these plates are similar or identical to those located at the rear of the 1901 guidebook; however, I feel that they work much better when scattered throughout the text of the guidebook. The photographs include several highly-significant taxa, including some of the extinct species (Thylacine, Schomburg's Deer, Nubian Ass) held in the collection at the time; whilst the preceding 1901 edition contained a large number of photographs depicting some of the houses and exhibits located within the collection, in this case the photographic focus is purely directed towards the animal collection, doubtless due to the aforementioned presence of illustrations and drawings depicting these structures. To be honest, the blend of photographs and illustrations only heightens the aesthetic appeal of the guidebook as a whole; the two forms of media complement one another perfectly in my opinion, and the pseudo-Moorish architectural style used throughout the collection at the time of publication is very well-suited to being rendered in this format. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned stiff binding of this particular guidebook, I have been able to highlight fewer of these images than I would like; something I will remedy in upcoming posts.

The text of these exhibit and species accounts, as is the case throughout the publications issued by Zoo Berlin during the first few decades of the 20th century, is extremely detailed and comprehensive; a vast array of species is named within the text, with all listed both under their common names and their taxonomic names, with the majority also including some discussion of their natural range and habitat. It would be far too time-consuming an undertaking to attempt to discuss these accounts in any real detail; however, across these three posts I think there is a vast amount of scope for those reading this thread to ask questions about specific houses and exhibits. As such, it is my intention to post a list of the various segments within these walkthrough accounts, to increase the ease of reference for anyone who may wish to know more specific information - this will be contained within the upcoming post discussing the 1906 edition. It goes without saying that between the descriptions of the exhibits/houses, and the species listed within, there is a massive amount of interesting historical and zoological information located within these accounts - quite apart from anything else, the number of species cited which are now either extinct or incredibly scarce in captivity!

After a detailed contents page listing page references for each of the sections within the main body of the text, the guidebook once again concludes with a highly-attractive and detailed map of the collection; in general format and style it is very much akin to those located within the immediately-preceding Zoo Berlin guidebooks of which I have already spoken, which makes it incredibly easy to compare and cross-reference details across different maps and observe the changes and developments taking place at the collection. For instance, it can be observed that the terminus of a horse tramway noted by @MRJ within the 1901 map is now unlabelled, albeit still present on the map itself, whilst the nearby lawn tennis area is now labelled as a generic play area; as such it is entirely possible that both of these features were no longer present as active locations within the collection at the time of publication. It is also rather interesting to note the presence of advertisements on the map itself!

Overall, then, this is another beautiful and interesting publication - very much an item of aesthetic, literary and historical value as well as a guidebook to the collection in question, and very much a *book* in every sense of the word. I have been as brief and succinct as possible, in the hope of conveying the key details relating to this guidebook, and the high regard in which I hold the various guidebooks published by Zoo Berlin, without allowing the latter point to overwhelm the whole. This does, of course, mean that I have skipped over whole swathes of text which could be the subject of entire posts discussing the zoological and historical significance of the contents therein - especially once I fully get to grips with the typeface used within this guidebook and hence my ability to read the text is increased!

As noted, I intend to include a detailed list of the various exhibits and houses discussed within the main body of this guidebook at the end of the upcoming post discussing the 1906 guidebook to the collection, in the hope of facilitating questions and discussion; however, it goes without saying that I would be more than happy to answer any questions which may arise before this point - and would very much welcome all other discussion and feedback, too!

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 61: Zoo Berlin (1905) - Red Deer Stag

Page count: 120 pages (including photographic plates)
Photographs: 32 black and white photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: 25 illustrations of animals, houses and exhibits, and assorted advertisements
Layout: Comprehensive walkthrough account of collection, preceded by historical account of Zoo Berlin and with assorted advertisements throughout.
Map: Fold-out at rear of guidebook

And so we move onto the next Zoo Berlin guidebook of the three which I will be discussing over the next few days; this particular item, as can be seen from the scan of the front cover visible above, is one of the guidebooks in my collection which has most been affected by the ravages of time, with the binding in relatively poor condition and scuff-marks and creases marring a substantial portion of the cover. It is also one of the first guidebooks from Zoo Berlin that I obtained after first deciding that I would seek them out in earnest several years ago, having previously picked up guidebooks from the collection in a fairly haphazard and absent-minded fashion. This particular guide book was purchased from AbeBooks, after I stumbled across a remarkably cheap copy (around £15 as I recall) by pure chance.

Despite the identical front cover when compared to the 1903 edition, and indeed the 1906 edition which will be discussed anon, upon first opening this guidebook and viewing the interior title page it is immediately apparent that there *are* differences both subtle and more major between editions; most notably, whilst the authorship of the 1903 Guidebook was credited solely to the director of the collection, Dr Ludwig Heck, one will note that here he is credited alongside his scientific assistant Dr Oskar Heinroth. The latter would ultimately prove to be almost as influential in the history and development of Zoo Berlin as the former, being instrumental in the construction of the Zoo-Aquarium some years after the publication of this guide book, and serving as the first director of the aquarium until it was all-but-destroyed during the ravages of World War II. Heinroth himself would die from pneumonia and starvation a few weeks after the end of the war in Europe, with his widow Katharina Heinroth becoming the first post-war director of the Zoo. As such, in my opinion this guidebook marks an interesting and important point in the overall history of Zoo Berlin; although the historical "story" of a zoological collection may often be assumed to primarily comprise the events which shaped it, the construction of significant exhibits or the arrival of noteworthy species, it is equally valid to view the moments when particular individuals first enter the story as no less pivotal.

The aforementioned damage to the binding of this guidebook does provide one useful benefit; whilst my copy of the 1903 edition was too stiff and rigid to satisfactorily scan many of the pages within, with text omitted within the curve of the page into the spine, it has proven significantly easier to scan the pages within this particular edition. This has allowed me to scan the introductory pages from the historical discussion which opens the main body of the text; this means that I can now not only present an image showing the attractive illustration of the Wiener Kaffeehalle of which I spoke in the previous post - along with an interesting advertisement for a Viennese restaurant located in the city centre of Berlin which was not present in the relevant section of the 1903 guidebook - but also provide a general overview of the presentation and format of the historical discussion itself. Although this section covers the same number of pages as that in the previous edition, and the typeface used is still the ornate and attractive style I have both lauded and bemoaned in previous posts, I strongly suspect that the text itself has been edited and expanded; the typeface here is noticeably smaller and more densely packed than in previous editions and as such, it is a reasonable assumption that more content overall is present. Something similar is the case within the walkthrough account of the collection which comprises the bulk of the guidebook.

As previously noted I will be fairly succinct when discussing the walkthrough section, saving in-depth discussion - and opening the floor for questions and feedback - for a supplementary post which will come after I have completed all three discussions within this short run of Zoo Berlin posts. It goes without saying that the various positive aspects of the walkthrough discussion present within the 1903 guidebook - the highly attractive artwork, the copious black-and-white photographs depicting animals present within the collection at the time of publication, and the highly detailed species by species accounts - are all also present here; however, the precise layout of the sections differs quite markedly between the two editions, with some portions of the text very obviously expanded whilst others have been abridged. Furthermore, whilst many of the photographs within this guide book also occur within the preceding edition, in many cases the location and layout of these photographs within the text has been shuffled around significantly; for instance - as can be seen below - the photographic plate depicting Thylacine also includes a photograph of a dingo, and occurs alongside the discussion of the Antilopenhaus. By comparison, within the 1903 edition this photograph is located on a plate located elsewhere in the text which also depicts Malayan Porcupine, as can be seen within the previous post.

Given the aforementioned ease of scanning the pages within this guidebook, this also seems an opportune point at which to provide further images showing the highly-attractive and eye-catching illustrations of exhibits and houses within the text; as such I have selected double-page spreads which include images of the "Neue Affenhaus" and the Antilopenhaus to complement the images provided in the previous post.

The guidebook concludes, as usual, with a comprehensive index and contents page for the species/exhibit walkthrough account, followed by a highly attractive and detailed fold-out map of the collection located within the back cover of the book. Along with more obvious alterations to the map - the apparent demolition of the horse tramway terminus, the construction of a block of canine exhibits, and general landscaping work across the site - it also appears to have been comprehensively re-drawn from scratch, albeit in a very similar style, with the linework being somewhat more bold and brash, and tree cover rendered in a different fashion. Subtle changes such as these are rather interesting in their own right, both on historical, zoological and artistic grounds, and demonstrate how rewarding it can be to examine these guidebooks with care and attention to detail.

Again, a very interesting and valuable historical document, an informative guidebook to the collection as it stood at the time of publication, and an attractive and aesthetically-pleasing work of art and literature; although the differences between this and the 1903 edition may seem to be fairly superficial on the surface, as I have noted elsewhere I feel reasonably confident that once I am able to interpret the ornate typeface used more effectively, I may be able to find more pronounced differences between these two editions, and better understand how they chart the development of Zoo Berlin in the opening years of the 20th century. Once again it goes without saying that although I intend to discuss the species and exhibit accounts anon, and hope that this sparks lively discussion in its own right, I would be very much interested to receive any and all feedback, comments, or indeed criticism which does reading this thread may have to offer in the meantime.