Keith Mortimer Books

[Apicra]

Colin, one item I did not recognise is no. 200 Dugdale "Lithops in Colour". At first my memory confused it with item 556 Sprechman "Lithops". Are these 122 colour photographs the same at those produced by Desmond Cole? I have 32 of these with captions, noted as "Lithops Naturally" 1979?

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble

[Colin Walker]

Hi Derek,

In 1970 the following book was published:
Sprechman, D.L. Lithops. Associated University Press, New Jersey.

It was a collaborative work, with contributions from Chester Dugdale, Des Cole and a key to the genus by de Boer.

It included a series of colour photos intended as an aid to identification, but reproduction wasn't as good as the authors intended. So David Sprechman issued a series of colour photos to complement the book, and this is what is listed as item 200 in the Mortimer catalogue.

I don't have this item myself, but my understanding is that the photos were issued loose in sets in a limited edition. So the Mortimer set has been mounted, not as issued.

The original Sprechman book (item 556 in Mortimer) is one of the least impressive and useful of several books now available on Lithops. It's large format and not that commonly available, so the price of ?48 is pretty good.

In contrast item 200 at ?80 seems very steep to me and certainly not a price I'd pay!

[Trevor]

Well, one even travelled half the world - I got a copy today, some nice things listed, but taking into consideration the exchange rate, me thinks not .... :-(

[Aloenut]

Derek,

I bought the following:

Lithops of SWA/Namibia - Cole. (Madoqua)
A bit pricey for ?35, but one doesn't see this on offer often.

South African Aloes - Jeppe
A great buy for ?20.

There was a lot more on the list that was tempting, but I had to be controlled.

[Colin Walker]

Hi Aloenut,

Yep, you're right, the Jeppe aloe book was a good price. Enjoy.

[Maria J]

I realise it depends on size & weight of books, but what were the postal charges like?? (I have sent an e-mail enquiry but waiting for an answer)

[Colin Walker]

Hi Maria,

I asked about that and was told standard charges and a max of ?10 but as you say this'll vary a lot depending on size and weight.

My Marloth Flora of South Africa will be weighty 'cos it consists of 6 vols.

[Maria J]

Thanks Colin,
if their max charge is ?10, then it will be a bargain for 6 volumes!!

[Apicra]

I visited Maggs & Co yesterday. After meeting a friend from N&MK branch at the RHS show in Westminster, we walked to Mayfair. It is like book shops used to be ... floor to ceiling bookcases lining the plush rooms. Apparently, they do store all books at that address and have a long rambling basement linked to a mews property behind. So it obviously takes time to find a given item for callers and you need to give them notice of a visit.

I was very pleased with my three purchases. The Annals of the Bolus Herbarium (443) in Cape Town was a gamble, since I had not seen it - the big London libraries do not stock it. It contains more about succulents than I expected and appears to be the vehicle Louisa Bolus used for publishing Mesemb descriptions before her Notes on Mesembs (71). It also contains some Crassula descriptions from Schonland and lists of plants collected on the later Percy-Sladen Memorial Expeditions.

I got some insight into their pricing. Condition of the books explains some of the apparently low prices. For example, the original 1822 copy of Burchell's classic "Travels ... in Southern Africa" (107 sold) was priced at only ?120 because 2 of the plates were not original. This is less than I paid for the now-scarce reprint! Otherwise it would be ?1000+++. I find this surprising, since all of the information is there and intuitively, I would expect only a minor discount.

More under the "You like books?" topic.

Happy reading,
Derek Tribble,
London, UK