ZooChat.
Okay lad, here we go again, this being “PART TWO,” of the R/WSP Guidebook, guide. Photos to follow at a later date.
-oOo-
R/WSP “DOLPHINARIUM” GUIDEBOOK No: 2. - Also issued by the Smart brothers in
1969, was the first of four known, but separate “Dolphinarium” Guidebooks. This particular version featured a monochrome photo, of two jumping dolphins, (most likely Honey, and Lulu,) and the title of “Royal”/Windsor Safari Park, in red lettering on a yellow banner, with the word “Dolphins” underneath this in reddish/pink, and “AT ROYAL WINDSOR BERKSHIRE,” on its front cover, along with the red and blue R/WSP “crest” of a dolphin within a crown, featured in a white oblong box, at the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
With only poor quality black and white photo’s within, the bare minimum of text, along with its meager overall design, along with the use of low-grade paper, (Which is classified as, “
Ephemeral” by collectors, meaning it was never produced to last any length of time, and would be fragile,) all of which marks this guide out as one of the least attractive of the guides produced for the park, which is probably why it was discontinued after a very short print-run. However, also because of its poor quality, and small print-run, it is “
astonishing” that any of these particular “1969” Dolphinarium Guidebooks have survived for any length of time at all, which, without question, marks this guide out as one of the rarest of all the known Guidebooks produced for Windsor Safari Park.
This
1969 Dolphinarium edition was printed by, Raymond Thatcher (Graphic Arts) Ltd, Maidenhead, Berks. It measures 8 x 5 ½ inches in size, and only has six black and white poorly printed photos, some of which featured John Saddler, who was a renowned Marine Mammal Trainer of the 60’s/70’s, and one of R/WSP first dolphin trainers.
Note: That the famous killer whale, (Orca,) Ramu (III), who was Europe’s only killer whale, had not arrived at the park at this time. This Dolphinarium Guidebook, is considered extremely rare in any condition, and mint examples, if found, can command very high prices, even though there are few that collect R/WSP guidebooks worldwide. © Terry Bobrowicz.
-oOo-
R/WSP GUIDEBOOK No’s: 2/2a/2b/2c. - In
1971, the second of the Smarts Guidebooks was produced, and featured the R/WSP coat of arms (as opposed to its crest, used in the 1969 publications,) along with the Park’s Latin motto, Mundus Animalium, which translates loosely to, “The World of Animals,” and for the first time too, in white, the title “
Royal” Windsor Safari Park was used as a guidebook title, all of which are featured on an orange-red background, with an ornate black and white page-trim.
There are in fact 4 variants of this guide, the standard edition which, on page 3 is signed-off by, “Ronald Smart” alone, and as the “Managing Director.” Whereas the second variation is signed-off as, “The Smart Brothers,” with no mention of the director. It would seem that Ronald must have overseen the design-work of the first variant, and the other two brothers did not agree to his sole status of director, as in this second variant there is also a line added in upper case at the bottom of the page, (most likely to enfercise it,) that reads “SOLE PROPRIETORS OF ROYAL WINDSOR SAFARI PARK. THE SMART BROTHERS.” In all other aspects the two variations are identical.
However, it is also noted, that for both editions there is a “*Print Error Slippage,” on the front cover. The overall printing with some copies of this issue are noticeably crisper and more defined, while also having light-grey dolphins. Whereas some other prints are markedly less defined, and have much darker grey dolphins. These copies also have a small yellow colour-slippage gap between the right dolphins back, its dorsal fin, tail, and the background. This slippage appears on both of the differently signed variants, and thus may be attributed to a long print-runs, which may have caused printing degradation over time for both of the variants. All in all, this means that there are two variants of this 1971 edition, both of which carry the front cover print error, and so there are “four” items to collect, of which any ardent collector would wish to acquire for this 1971 edition. Apart from the above mentioned, all other aspects of this guide are identical. This edition was designed by Anthony B. Ainley MSIA, for W. E. Berry Ltd, it was printed by The Nesfield Works, Bradford, and it measures 7 x 9½ inches, with 14 double-sided full colour pages. Although all versions are considered scarce in mint condition, the “Ronald Smart,” signed version is the rarest of the 1971 editions.
*Order of variants for the 1971 second Smarts edition/s.
No: 2. Signed “Ronald Smart.” No Front Cover Print Error.
No: 2a. Signed “Ronald Smart.” With Print Error.
No: 2b. Signed “The Smart Brothers,” No Print Error.
No: 2c. Signed “The Smart Brothers,” With Print Error.
-oOo-
R/WSP “DOLPHINARIUM” GUIDEBOOK No: 3. - Also in
1971, in addition to the park’s standard yearly guidebooks, a second “Dolphinarium Guide,” was published to replace the poorly produced 1969 version. Note: Titled “meet the Dolphins,” (It has a lower-case m?) The front cover features, “Honey” once again, one of the most popular stars of the dolphin show. The cover also has a sub-tile of, “AT ROYAL WINDSOR SAFARI PARK” at the bottom of the page. Many on-line sites state that this edition was produced in 1972, but this is totally incorrect. This guide measures 8x5 inches, with six double sided colour pages, and states it was “designed and printed” by W. E. Berry Ltd, at the Nesfield Works, Bradford.
Hardly ever seen for sale, it can be safely assumed, that this too is one of the rearrest of the Windsor Safari Park guidebooks, and so, is considered extremely rare in any condition.
R/WSP GUIDEBOOK No: 4. 1972 saw the third edition of the Smarts Guidebooks to be published. This edition is very similar to the 1971 issue, but instead, its cover has a blue background, while also omitting the black and white page edge-trim.
Also, with white title lettering, this edition included the words “Borough of,” a concession made by the Smarts, as by that time the local council had begun to strongly object to any misconceptions concerning the royal family, that might be connected in any way with the Parks title. However, as the term “Royal Windsor,” is a place name, it was in fact perfectly legal to use. This point remained a bone of contention between the Smarts and the local council, that continued for many years.
With the exception of these few design features made to the front cover, this 1972 edition, was in all other respects exactly the same as the previous year’s 1971 edition, this edition was again printed for Anthony B. Ainley MSIA, for W. E. Berry Ltd, at The Nesfield Works, Bradford. It measures 7 x 9½ inches, and has 14 double-sided full colour pages. Considered “rare” in mint condition.
R/WSP GUIDEBOOK No: 4a. - 1972 also saw the Smarts publish a second, almost identical variant, “but,” with three of the dolphin photos at the top of page 17 updated. As yet, (2024,) the dates of publication for these two variants cannot be 100% verified, nor in which order they were issued.
However, as No: 4, is regularly and often seen for sale, whereas No: 4a, while hardly ever seen for sale, is notably much more difficult to find.
Therefore, this small availability fact gives a strong indication of either a short print, or sales run, and therefore it can be reasonably presumed that the latter (No:4a,) is considered to be “very rare,” while the former (No: 4,) is considered “rare.”
However, this information does not help to unravel the mystery of which was issued first, nor is there any information available to indicate why the Smarts changed these three photos?
Also Note: The Bartlett Society Zoo Guide makes a simple reference to “Orange Bucket/s,” meaning that the center photo on the updated page 17 of the second variant, has a prominent orange bucket in it, but there is also a photo on page 16 with orange buckets too, and this has led to a great deal of ambiguity about the two variants.
Again, this variant was designed by Anthony B. Ainley MSIA, for W. E. Berry Ltd, it was printed by The Nesfield Works, Bradford. It measures 7 x 9½ inches, with 14 double-sided full colour pages. Considered “very rare” in mint condition.
R/WSP GUIDEBOOK No: 5. - The fourth
1973 Smarts Guidebook featured the “Gazing Tiger,” along with the title of, “Royal Windsor Safari Park” printed in white on a blue background. For this edition, and pointedly, the words “Borough of” were dropped. Also, on the back cover of this edition, the Embassy cigarette Government Health Warning, was printed with a “blue” background. The indications are that this issue must have a had a very small print-run, as few of these examples come up for sale very often, and would seem to be an exceptionally scarce edition, rather than rare. Designed by Anthony B. Ainley MSIA for W. E. Berry Ltd, it was printed by The Nesfield Works, Bradford. It measures 6¼ x 9½ inches, and has 14 double-sided full colour pages. Considered scarce in any condition.
R/WSP GUIDEBOOK No: 6. - In
1974 the same cover was used as seen on the previous year’s edition, but with a black background. The reason for this change is not known, but possibly it was nothing more than to denote a change in year. The title text colour was also changed from white, to yellow.
This edition is also noteworthy, because the advert carried on page 11, was changed at some time during the same year of its publication (1974.) This must be so, as there was a different 1973, and 1975, edition printed for those years.
One version of the 1974 black “Gazing Tiger,” edition features a full-page monochrome, “Smiths Snacks” ad, while a second variant has a full page colour ad, featuring “Aquafresh.” Therefor there obviously must have been two print runs. The order of publication has to be, variant 1, = Smiths, while the later variant 2, = Aquafresh. The reason for this is that, the previous year’s 1973 blue cover edition, carried the same Smiths ad, and it is highly unlikely that either Smiths, or the Smarts, stopped the ad, then featured the toothpaste ad, and then switched back again to the Smiths ad, that doesn’t make sense? Therefore, it must be the other way around.
Also, on the back cover of this edition, the Embassy cigarette Government Health Warning, was printed with a “white” background. It is not known as yet, how long each print-run was for each variant, and little research, as yet, (2023,) has been done on the frequency of sales, and therefore it is not known which of the two variants is the rarest, if either?
Although both versions are difficult to find, it is a more common edition than the rarer blue background “Gazing Tiger “edition of the previous year (1973.) Again “Borough of” was not used on the front cover. Excluding the Dolphinarium Guides, this edition was the fifth guidebook that the Smarts produced, and was Designed by Anthony B. Ainley MSIA for W. E. Berry Ltd. It was printed by The Nesfield Works, Bradford, and measures 6¼ x 9½ inches, and again carried 14 double-sided full colour pages. Considered scarce in any condition.
-oOo-
Note. It has always been assumed by collectors that the Smarts produced two version for
1975 edition, but did not produce a guide for
1976, this however has now been proved to be incorrect. With the evidence of the changes now know, it is obvious that the Smarts commissioned guides for “both” years with the same cover.
R/WSP GUIDEBOOK No: 7. - The
1975 sixth Smarts edition, featured a “Snarling Cheetah” with red lettering, and “Borough of” used, but even so, for that, the size of the typeface for this inclusion was much-reduced.
Note. There is only one version of this,
1975 edition, which had a monochrome photo of Prince Phillip on page 9, and page 15 carried two ads in monochrome. One for, “Wernickand,” and beneath this a second ad for, “Asti Barbero,” as well as an ad for the, “Automobile Association” on page 27.
Also Note, that for this 1975 edition the center-fold map had only
30 items listed.
Designed by Anthony B. Ainley MSIA for W. E. Berry Ltd, it was printed by The Nesfield Works, Bradford. It measures 6¼ x 9½ inches with and increased 16 double-sided full colour pages. Conceded rare in any condition.
R/WSP DOLPHINARIUM GUIDEBOOK No: 8. - Also in
1975, a third separate “Dolphinarium” Guidebook was issued, featuring Smartie, one of the Parks dolphins on its cover, along with the slogan “Dolphins can be fascinating at Windsor Safari Park.” However, at extra cost to produced, it only had a short print-run for the summer of 1975, and was never reproduced again, making it an eye-wateringly rare R/WSP collector’s item, which can command a very high price.
Note: One unique copy of this, being the very last one sold on the park in 1975, was dated and signed to that effect, and is now in the authors collection. This Dolphinarium Guide is considered ultra rare in any condition.
R/WSP GUIDEBOOK No: 9. - 1976 saw seventh Smarts yearly guidebook edition with the same front cover as the 1975 edition. However, within its pages it includes a great many editorial changes. The page 15 monochrome ads were dropped and replaced with a full-page photo of a rhino, making two rhino pages in all, and the page 27 add was changed to “Rothmans,” from the “AA” ad. In conjunction to this there were many changes made to the center-fold map. I.e., an “S” (which was missing altogether in the 1975 edition,) was added to the front of the map-list denoting, “Sales Kiosks,” item No: 4 dropped, “Black Swans and Canadian Geese,” and was replaced with, “Mini Marina and Boats,” item No: 10 changed from, “Mouse Village,” to “African Souvenirs,” and with item No: 18 the word “leopard,” was cut, and on item No: 22 the word, “Penguins,” was also cut. On item No: 24 the word, “Geese,” was cut, and items No: 31, 32, and 33, had the words “Elephants, Large Pick-nick Area, and, Kodak photo-shop,” all added respectively. Along with the listed items changes, the two-page map was also amended accordingly. Also, the “Piccadilly King Size” ad, that featured as the header and footer of the previous year’s map (1975,) was discontinued altogether. Designed by Anthony B. Ainley MSIA for W. E. Berry Ltd, it was printed by The Nesfield Works, Bradford, it measures 6¼ x 9½ inches, with 16 double-sided full colour pages. Considered rare in any condition.
R/WSP GUIDEBOOK No: 10. - This
1977 edition, which was the eighth, and last of the Smarts Guidebooks to be produced, is interesting as there are two variations of it. The front cover featured one of the Parks giraffes along with Park visitors, while featuring colour coded pages, and the bold white lettering of “Royal Windsor Safari Park & Dolphinarium” at the bottom of the front page.
The first version, most likely printed during the winter of 1976/77, includes a two-page announcement with photos, that by March of 1977 the dolphinarium would be accommodating a new pilot-whale. As, in the Autumn of the previous year, the killer whale Ramu (III) had been exchanged for this expected new pilot-whale, along with two dolphins from SeaWorld San Diego USA.
However, for reasons unknown, the deal was never fulfilled, with or by, the Smarts family. This may have had a bearing on why they sold their interest in the Park to Trident Television, for an estimated £3m in the summer of that same year. Although the deal was never completed by the Smarts, the new owners, Trident, instead acquired a young female killer whale from SeaWorld USA. It is not known whether this was a fulfillment of the old Smarts deal, or a new one altogether? And so, the guidebook that featured the pilot whale announcement was withdrawn from sale, and then replaced with the second version of that year’s guide, which featured photos, and a new announcement that a new “killer whale,” (who was initially named Freya, but subsequently had her name changed to the more commercially sounding “Winnie the Whale,”) would arrive at the Park in the spring of 1978.
R/WSP GUIDEBOOK No: 10a. - As the pilot whale variation of the 1977 guidebook was only offered for sale for a short while, it is considered exceptionally rare, and now when sold, copies have been known to fetch eye watering prices. In every other respect both editions are identical. Each measure 7½ x 9 inches, and have 12 double sided colour pages. Although the printer is not named in either variation, and as many of the photos and design details, seen in these two editions also closely resemble those of the 1975 “Snarling Cheetah” edition, it can safely be assumed it was again designed by Anthony B. Ainley MSIA for W. E. Berry Ltd, and printed by The Nesfield Works, Bradford.
As inherited stock from the Smarts, Trident continued to use the second variant issue for the rest of the year (1977.) Variant 1 is considered “extremely” rare, whereas variant 2 is considered “very” rare.
In all, the Smarts produced eight yearly guides, along with 3 separate Dolphinarium guides, all of which are considered rare.
-oOo-
NOTE: There are two noticeable factors regarding
all of the guides issued by the Smarts. Firstly, all carried advertising, Embassy cigars and cigarettes, Walls’s ice-cream, and Coca-Cola, all regularly appeared with each edition as full page adds, with occasionally, half page adds for lesser companies. Although spoiling the overall design presentation, a thing of its time, advertising paid for the printing cost of each year’s guidebook. Secondly, the Smarts only ever issued small sized guidebooks, approximately (Small Post Quarto,) 7 x 9½ inches, or just under. These two points kept production costs low, allowing them to become a profitable commodity, and reasonably cheap to buy too. Later, with subsequent owners producing larger add free guides, none of them adopted the Smarts stratagem, which did lead to better designed and produced guidebooks, but with higher production costs, that would be passed on to the Parks visitors. © T. M. Bobrowicz.
-oOo-
Okay lads, that’s all of the “known” Smarts GB’s covered, hope the list is of help, and interest. I have a little bit of sprucing-up to do on the next owner of the park’s guides…
The Trident Guidebooks 1978 - 1984.
And will endeavor to post ASP.
given my interest in the preservation of historical information and memorabelia pertaining to zoological collections, both as a zoo enthusiast and a member of the Bartlett Society, I look forward to anything and everything you can share!
