The Shell: Five Hundred Million Years of Inspired Design

The Shell: Five Hundred Million Years of Inspired Design
ISBN-10
0810904756
ISBN-13
9780810904750
Category
Photography / General
Pages
106
Language
English
Published
1968
Publisher
Abrams
Authors
Robert Tucker Abbott, Hugh Stix, Marguerite Stix

Description

Sea Shells have enchanted mankind, apparently, as far back as human records go. Their variety of shape, color, structure, 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 authors, Marguerite and Hugh Stix, are founders and directors of the Stix Rare Shell Gallery of New York - perhaps the only one of its kind in the world = and they 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 holds the Du Pont Chair of Malacology at the Delaware Museum of Natural History, they have reated one of the most beautiful and revealing presentations of sea shells ever published. With a dramatic layout and design, stunning black-and-white photographs, and numerous breathtaking colorplates, each shell is presented as an inspired work of art by a sensitive and creative photographer: H. Landshoff, Mr. and Mrs. Stix have written an introductory text which deals with the shell in history, shell lore from many cultures, the romance of collecting, and the influence of shell forms on art. Dr. Abbott comments on each species of shell reproduced, bringing to bear the professional malacologist's knowledge and devotion combined with impeccable scientific information. Thus, the subject is explored in depth, but always oriented to the general reader who will find in this aspect of nature some of the most bizarre, colorful, "inspired," and beguiling objects on earth. -- Book Jacket.

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