Zoo Guides.

keeper19er

keeper19er

Active Member
Never had much time for collecting zoo guides, however I was recently given several London zoo guide books. The earliest being the 21st edition dated 1868, the next being the 23 edition dated 1925, 29 edition dated 1932, London zoo (new series, second edition)1937, and London zoo 1951.

Does any one know when the first edition came out, and does any one have any copies earlier than 1868, (I imagine the zoo's will have collections).
 
I've got one from 1834. It is listed inside the cover as the 6th edition. Presumably they appeared twice a year as I'm pretty sure they started publishing them in their first year.
 
It really surprises me, that in this day and age of the throw away society, that such little and delicate gems survived, its only paper after all.

I've been looking at the adverts in them, just as fascinating in their own way.

maybe one day, people will be asking these sort of things with our everyday items.

It's also fascinating to compare the animals kept of yesteryear to those today, and their portrayle of them in comparison to today.
 
Dear keeper19er

Take good care of your 1868 guide book !

We have a master list of UK guide books (within the Content section of our website).

So far the only London 1868 guide book we have located is in the ZSL's own Library.

We are now working on a similar listing for USA guide books.

Zoo History
Regards, Paul Murphy, joint webmaster The Bartlett Society.
 
Thanks for letting me know. I have to admit it is not in the best condition and I am sure it has lost it's cover, though it does seem to have a paper cover (no colour)with a picture of a kiwi (i think it is).

Kept it in a plastic wallet toked away in a folder so as not to get it to damaged/ruined by sunlight etc.
 
Have to admit, after reading what you wrote, I have viewed it in a totally different light, Before it was just a guide book that my friend gave me, along with some others (he decided his son wouldn't appreciate them, and even I was going to turn them down as I am not really into collecting guide books).

Now I feel privaleged that he gave them to me. He told me to "just flog em on ebay".That was three years ago. Just had the feeling that I should keep them.

I could hold one of two in existence, who knows?.

Thank you.
 
I have quite a few Zoo Guides...
- A London Zoo one from 1973 (The cover is missing and therefore so is the map. Other than that, it's in good condition)
- A Chester Zoo one from 1992 (Won off eBay)
- Various Chester ones from the late nineties to the early milennium (1998-2004 I think)
- A Twycross Zoo one from mid-nineties (Gorilla on front cover, Bonobo on back)

They're the only old ones I own, but I own quite a few modern ones as well.
 
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I've got a fair number of pamphlets, guides, books, leaflets, etc from almost 40 different zoos, aquariums and wildlife parks. Every time I visit a zoo I take away two maps, and if possible purchase a guide book as well.

The 4 really old guides that I own:

1- London Zoo guide from 1971, with a two page map enclosed. There is a highlighted section in the middle of the zoo (attached to the monkey house) that is going to be a new primate house.
2- A Taronga Zoo guide from 1972 that talks all about the 1967 master plan and its changes such as the new koala exhibit. There is a two page map that naturally has all the carnivores together, ungulates together, bears together, and even the flightless birds (ostrich, emu, rhea and cassowary) in one section of the zoo. How things have changed!
3- A "Lions of Longleat" guide from 1967, advertising the new hippo and man-ape islands that have recently opened in that British park.
4- A guide from Carl Hagenbeck's Tierpark that is completely in German and doesn't have a copyright date. It appears to be 1950 or even earlier...and it's too bad that I can't read barely a word of it.

I also have a guide to Edmonton's now defunct Polar Park, guide/book from Taronga from 1980, and lots of big books: San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, National Zoo in Washington D.C., a history of the 5 New York zoos/aquariums, the Vancouver Aquarium...and a huge hardcover book that is the best of the lot and from the Calgary Zoo.
 
snowleopard said:
a history of the 5 New York zoos/aquariums and a huge hardcover book that is the best of the lot and from the Calgary Zoo.
Click to expand...

What are these two called and the authors..? I'd be interested in Amazoning them..!
 
@NZ Jeremy: "Images of America: New York City Zoos and Aquariums" by Joan Scheier, published in 2005. It is only 128 pages, and every single photo is in black-and-white, but it is terrific because none of the photos are recent. There are about 240 photos in total, from bygone years of the Central Park Zoo, the Bronx Zoo, the Prospect Park Zoo, the Staten Island Zoo, the Queens Zoo, the New York Aquarium, and some minor Children's Zoos. Though quite a small book, it has some shocking shots of horrendous exhibits that at the time were considered rather progressive.

"The Evolution of the Calgary Zoo" by Tyler Trafford is 194 pages but a very large hardcover book. It is 12 inches in height, 9 inches in width, and is packed with glossy photos of the zoo. It is a decade by decade history of the zoo, and cost me about $40 from the gift shop in Calgary. Because the book is so large and informative, and a hardcover, it is the best of all my zoo books.

The San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park books are also large, softcover and packed with tons of glossy photos and lots of information about specific exhibits. They were published in 2000 by the Publications Department of San Diego.
 
Thanks for that Snowleopard, I shall check those out..!

I have a similar book about the two San Diego Zoo but it was produced in the 80's, it covers the history of the two parks, the directors, some of the notable species of animals and some individual animals its a good book...
 
Check out the "click for conservation" thread, as I just posted a short review of the excellent book "100 animals to see before they die".
 
Just been tidying out one of my cupboards and found a whole load of zoo guides, counted them all and i have 183 zoo guidebooks, as well as over 100 IZN's as well as about 50 annual reports and a pile of leaflets and maps, god how it builds up!
 
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@kiang: 165 zoo guides!! Wow, very impressive. I probably have that many leaflets, but nowhere near as many guides.
 
Never had much time for collecting zoo guides, however I was recently given several London zoo guide books. The earliest being the 21st edition dated 1868
Click to expand...

I could hold one of two in existence
Click to expand...

Who knows, maybe the British Library would be interested in it :)... they seem to hold a very wide range of items.
 
I've just bought a 1991 Chester Zoo guide book off eBay and there are many more for sale...

- A few London ones with a bush baby on the cover
- A 1936 Whipsnade guide
- 1985 Whipsnade one
- 1991 London Zoo guide
- Chessington guide (polar bear on the cover)
- Paignton guide from the early 60's

and some others...
 
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