American Guidebooks For Sale?

KCZooFan

KCZooFan

Well-Known Member
I was just wondered if anyone had any guidebooks for ANY American zoos that they have no use for anymore and would be willing to sell. I will pay any reasonable price for these guidebooks. Thanks:)
 
Of course there are a couple (not many) that still produce a guidebook that you can buy directly from the zoo. I am sure you know this already. Here are the three I know of that still have one:

San Diego Zoo
San Diego Wild Animal Park
Gladys Porter Zoo

Here are some that had one that I bought during visits up to ten years ago; not sure if they still have them (and no, I am not selling mine):

Cincinatti Zoo
Columbus Zoo
Fort Worth Zoo
Disney Animal Kingdom
Bronx Zoo
 
The demise of zoo guidebooks (especially in the U.S.) is a real shame, as has been stated on other threads. I think several European zoos still do them - I got a really nice one at Chester Zoo (England) and a small but decent one at London Zoo (England) last year.

When my zoo (Reid Park) opens its new elephant expansion next year, I am really going to push for us to produce one. The shocking thing is that some zoos (like Los Angeles) that have full time staff photographers do not produce a guidebook. (L.A. did have one that I bought several years ago, but it is not very good. And no, I am not selling that one either :p.)
 
KCZooFan said:
I was just wondered if anyone had any guidebooks for ANY American zoos that they have no use for anymore and would be willing to sell. I will pay any reasonable price for these guidebooks. Thanks:)
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Try Amazon. Before xmas I came across a bulk lot of more than 80 Chester Zoo guide and leaflet magazines (produced between the 60's and early 80's!) needless to say that they were a good price and the whole lot found a home with me!
 
@KCZoofan. I've sold a big part of my guidebook collection recently, but some guidebooks from Us-Zoos and Aquariums , old and new ones,are still available. If you're interested in, you can contact me by a private message.

Of course its a shame, guidebooks died out in the USA, but if nobody is buying them, there is no reason for the zoos to produce a guidebook...
 
Tarsius said:
Of course its a shame, guidebooks died out in the USA, but if nobody is buying them, there is no reason for the zoos to produce a guidebook...
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Yup, that is one of the reasons given to me when I asked at the LA Zoo why they stopped making them.
 
mstickmanp said:
Yup, that is one of the reasons given to me when I asked at the LA Zoo why they stopped making them.
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As a former zoo guidebook collector, my theory is that people stopped buying them when zoo guidebooks stopped being zoo guidebooks and became a kind of 'quickie' guide to wildlife instead.

I can think of a few places that I have visited in recent years, Melbourne and Singapore for instance, that had very impressive guidebooks but which would cover a lot more than what was on exhibit. They were ambitiously done! But so expensive and so much of the material so distant from what I had just seen on exhibit that I decided against buying them. If I want a wildlife encyclopedia, I go to Amazon.com.

Brownsville's Gladys Porter (and Sydney's Taronga if I remember correctly) had excellent guides; about themselves and their animals, not something that the guests would have to watch on Animal Planet in their hotel rooms after the visit. They were also 'normal' (i.e. not big and glossy) and hence priced cheap. Lastly, they were presented in the ticket booth and not hidden away amongst all the dolls and junk in the gift shop.

I cannot recall how it was at Taronga (visited in 2007) but at Gladys Porter last year I saw many visitors holding a copy of their excellent little $2 guide.
 
https://sites.google.com/a/zoohistory.co.uk/bartlett_society/projects/guidebooks_na/a_c#a I highly doubt that you can find most of these anymore but I thought you guys might find this interesting, this is a list of all known guide books published by North American collections, this list is a wealth of info, it also describes what is on the cover of those guide books so you know how to find them, @ KC zoo fan, good luck with your search, i hope you find what you want and are looking for :)
 
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