The Shell: Five Hundred Million Years of Inspired Design by Hugh and Marguerite Stix and R. Tucker Abbott is a hardcover published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1973, photographs by H. Landshoff. There is a very minor scuff along the top right front cover. Inside, the pages are in good condition but with a slight odor but not offensive. The dust jacket has some rubbing to the front and minor creases along the top edge and a tiny 1/2" long pen mark under the title.
Sea Shells have enchanted mankind, apparently, as far back as human records go. Their variety of shape, color, texture, and modes of adaptation seems inexhaustible. Small wonder that people have always found pleasure in owning them, and artists and craftsmen have incorporated them in everything ranging from massive architecture to personal jewelry. Today the passion for shell-collecting is greater than ever, and all over the world the fraternity of collectors grows--a segment of the population which acts as though they share some special gift of nature.
Sea Shells, as a matter of fact, are a special gift of nature. This book shows why. The author's, Marguerite and Hugh Stix, have traveled to all corners of the globe in quest of shells and shell lore. In addition, they have set up a worldwide system of "shell correspondents," who transmit shell information, as well as the shells themselves, so that probably nowhere can a greater confluence of shells be found.
With the collaboration of R. Tucker Abbott, who held the Du Pont Chair of Malacology at the Delaware Museum of Natural History, they have created one of the most beautiful and revealing presentations of sea shells ever published.
ISBN: 0-8109-0484-5
