New American Zoo Books

snowleopard

snowleopard

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Premium Member
Beckon Books is one firm that has begun publishing guidebooks for American zoos and aquariums although they do not sell their products directly from their website. I've already purchased the new guide for New England Aquarium (on my last road trip) as well as the trio from sunny California of San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park and San Diego Zoo: Panda Trek via the Safari Park's online store. I also ordered Cleveland Zoo's commemorative guidebook and I'm debating what to do about the Philadelphia Zoo publication as the price is reasonable but shipping to Canada can at times be extremely expensive.

My question is this: has anyone already purchased the Philadelphia Zoo book, or pre-ordered upcoming releases profiling the Phoenix and Riverbanks zoos? I'd be intrigued to know about the quality of the publications as after years of a fairly dormant book scene in terms of guidebooks there is suddenly a plethora of zoo-based literature being published.

Some covers of new guidebooks are showcased here:

Beckon Books

Riverbanks Zoo's 40th Anniversary Book ($40 hardcover or $20 paperback):

http://society.riverbanks.org/document.doc?id=57

The "Images of America" series is up to at least 14 zoo-based books and I've purchased all of them as what they lack in textual information they make up for in terms of historical photographs. Here is an example of one book in the series, and this one is of the Oklahoma City Zoo:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Oklahoma-City-1902-1959-Images-America/dp/0738540498/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384800635&sr=8-1&keywords=oklahoma+city+zoo]Oklahoma City Zoo 1902-1959 (OK) (Images of America): Amy Dee Stephens: 9780738540498: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]


Phoenix Zoo's 50th Anniversary Book (to be published any day now) is one that I'd also definitely order if shipping and handling was not outrageous.

My bank account is beginning to groan.:)
 
Last edited:
Turtle Back Zoo, a facility in New Jersey with over 500,000 annual visitors, now has a book out on its history that was just published last month:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Images-America-Arcadia-Publishing/dp/1467120588/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391439437&sr=1-1&keywords=turtle+back+zoo]Turtle Back Zoo (Images of America (Arcadia Publishing)): Brint Spencer, Caitlin A. Sharp: 9781467120586: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]
 
I got the Beckon guide to San Diego Safari Park which is really nicely done.

Although it is not in the Beckon series, I also picked up a guidebook to The Living Desert. It was done on the cheap, meaning the pages are basically glorified copy paper and the photos are very small with poor quality printing.

A similar quality guide (meaning low quality except for the cover) has been produced by the docents of the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
 
Perhaps I'll post this link on a thread that is slightly more updated. Milwaukee County Zoo is at least the 14th Images of America book to focus solely on a specific zoo and the book is due to be released in July.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-County-Zoo-Images-America/dp/1467112038/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400542343&sr=1-6&keywords=zoo+history"]Milwaukee County Zoo (Images of America Series): Darlene Winter, Elizabeth Frank, Mary Kazmierczak, Charles Wikenhauser: 9781467112031: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]
 
Volume III of the "History of the Dallas Zoo" focuses specifically on the era from 1951-1968.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/History-Dallas-Zoo-1951-1968/dp/1495923789/ref=sr_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400542760&sr=1-19&keywords=zoo+history]History of the Dallas Zoo : 1951 - 1968: Clint Skinner: 9781495923784: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]


Volume II covers the era from 1940-1950 (and is only 82 pages):

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/History-Dallas-Zoo-1941-1950/dp/1494490641/ref=sr_1_78?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400542968&sr=1-78&keywords=zoo+history"]History of the Dallas Zoo : 1941 - 1950: Clint Skinner: 9781494490645: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]


Volume I covers the era from 1888-1940:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/History-Dallas-Zoo-1888-1940/dp/1481259806/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400543188&sr=1-1&keywords=dallas+zoo"]History of the Dallas Zoo : 1888 - 1940: Clint Skinner: 9781481259804: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]


Why not charge people for one large book instead of publishing expensive, slim, separate volumes?
 
snowleopard said:
Volume III of the "History of the Dallas Zoo" focuses specifically on the era from 1951-1968.

History of the Dallas Zoo : 1951 - 1968: Clint Skinner: 9781495923784: Amazon.com: Books


Volume II covers the era from 1940-1950 (and is only 82 pages):

History of the Dallas Zoo : 1941 - 1950: Clint Skinner: 9781494490645: Amazon.com: Books


Volume I covers the era from 1888-1940:

History of the Dallas Zoo : 1888 - 1940: Clint Skinner: 9781481259804: Amazon.com: Books


Why not charge people for one large book instead of publishing expensive, slim, separate volumes?
Click to expand...

I bet, a"complete"book will follow several month after the last seperate volumne was published...
 
I think about to buy me following Zoo Books:

Animal always-100 Years at the Saint-Louis Zoo

Amerikas First Zoostories-125 Years at Phialdelphia Zoo

I'm especially interested in the historical parts of both books with good old photographs. So is it worth to buy them ? Both are available for less money.
 
Bib Fortuna said:
I think about to buy me following Zoo Books:

Animal always-100 Years at the Saint-Louis Zoo

Amerikas First Zoostories-125 Years at Phialdelphia Zoo

I'm especially interested in the historical parts of both books with good old photographs. So is it worth to buy them ? Both are available for less money.
Click to expand...

I own hardcover copies of these books and I would highly recommend that you purchase both of them. They each have many historical, black-and-white photos of old exhibits, as well as a number of animal pictures and text describing the transformation of the zoos. If you can only choose one I'd go with the Saint Louis book, as that publication is very detailed and has a nicer layout.
 
Sounds good-thank you. So what about these two new San Diego Zoo Books and teh Honolulu Zoo Book ? This is probably a Zoo I will never see by myself, so the Book could be good alternate option.

I wonder not many Us-Zoos do have good books about their history, I have only a few, Brookfield ,Denver,Bronx, Cincinnati but I wonder why so many Us-Zoos do not have one good book..L.A.for example--their 50 Years Anniversary is the perfect reason to publish one...but of course you need the people to make it...
 
Bib Fortuna said:
Sounds good-thank you. So what about these two new San Diego Zoo Books and teh Honolulu Zoo Book ? This is probably a Zoo I will never see by myself, so the Book could be good alternate option.

I wonder not many Us-Zoos do have good books about their history, I have only a few, Brookfield ,Denver,Bronx, Cincinnati but I wonder why so many Us-Zoos do not have one good book..L.A.for example--their 50 Years Anniversary is the perfect reason to publish one...but of course you need the people to make it...
Click to expand...

I will buy the two San Diego books and the Honolulu one at a later date as they look to be impressive but also expensive.

I have 16 zoo books in the Arcadia History series, with each of them focusing on the historical elements of a particular zoo. There are 128 pages full of black-and-white photos for each book. An example is Memphis Zoo:

[ame=http://www.amazon.ca/Memphis-Zoo-Images-America-Robert-ebook/dp/B010C79EB6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454621797&sr=8-1&keywords=memphis+zoo]Robot Check[/ame]


Also, I have many history books for zoos in the USA and most are for a 50th, 75th or 100th anniversary celebration. Off of the top of my head I have glossy, proper history books for these zoos: Kansas City, Brookfield, Lincoln Park, Detroit, Saint Louis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, San Diego, Denver, Mesker Park, Potter Park, Riverbanks, Gladys Porter, Toledo, Topeka (Gary Clarke's autobiography), Shedd Aquarium and Georgia Aquarium.

Does anyone have the 96-page Elmwood Park Zoo book?

[ame="http://www.amazon.ca/Elmwood-Park-Zoo-Stan-Huskey/dp/1467115800/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1454621982&sr=1-1&keywords=zoo+images+of+america"]Elmwood Park Zoo: Stan Huskey, Jerry Spinelli: 9781467115803: Books - Amazon.ca[/ame]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top