W Keble Martin

[rautospoon]

Hi, I wish to purchase a copy of his classic "The Concise British Flora In Colour", of which there are numerous editions (first was 1965) available for sale on AbeBooks.
My queries are :
1. Which edition has the "brightest/best quality" illustrations ?
2. The title was (eventually) changed to "The New Concise......", is there any difference in the content ?
3. Are the Book Club (BCA) editions inferior in any way ?
Any information would be much appreciated.
Many thanks.

[Meta menardi]

This may sound like a cop-out, I would talk to the bloke at Abe Books. He probably sees more than most of us do and should know the ins and outs.

I buy every copy that I find in charity shops and pass them on to the interested.

[svenrufus]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

I buy every copy that I find in charity shops and pass them on to the interested.

Are you sure you're not buying the same one again and again, which just gets given straight back to the charity shop for you to buy again?

I don't actually rate this book as anything other than shelf filler, sort of needs to be there for the sake of completeness, but I never refer to it, nor do I think that it did anything to inspire me.

[rautospoon]

Originally Posted by svenrufus

Are you sure you're not buying the same one again and again, which just gets given straight back to the charity shop for you to buy again?

I don't actually rate this book as anything other than shelf filler, sort of needs to be there for the sake of completeness, but I never refer to it, nor do I think that it did anything to inspire me.

I am afraid that your somewhat dismissive and jaundiced view, would not be shared by many members of the BSB1 !!

[JennyS]

Hi rautospoon - I got the New Concise......(1982) from Abe, its a beautiful book!

Quote from flyleaf:
"The new text therefore records those species that have become rare, others that have become extinct and the introduced foreign species that have become established. The English names have been revised and standardised in accordance with the list published by the Botanical Society of the British Isles, and the distributions and habitats expanded"

[JennyS]

I don't actually rate this book as anything other than shelf filler, sort of needs to be there for the sake of completeness, but I never refer to it, nor do I think that it did anything to inspire me.

Some people just don't know what they're missing.

[rautospoon]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

This may sound like a cop-out, I would talk to the bloke at Abe Books. He probably sees more than most of us do and should know the ins and outs.

I buy every copy that I find in charity shops and pass them on to the interested.

I am afraid that, due to vast global internet operation of AbeBooks, no such facility exists.

[rautospoon]

Originally Posted by JennyS

Hi rautospoon - I got the New Concise......(1982) from Abe, its a beautiful book!

Quote from flyleaf:
"The new text therefore records those species that have become rare, others that have become extinct and the introduced foreign species that have become established. The English names have been revised and standardised in accordance with the list published by the Botanical Society of the British Isles, and the distributions and habitats expanded"

Many thanks for your most helpful reply !

[JennyS]

But bear in mind that the Latin names are what was standard in 1982......others have changed since which is a right and total pain as it means that most reference books have at least some names that have been 'revised'

[The Woodman]

I cannot comment on the new version, but the third edition published in 1976 is my first port of call for any flower ID. As a forestry student in those days I bought the A5 sized Sphere publishers (I think) CBF in C and was very dissapointed with the reproduction quality of some of the plates. I wrote to the publisher pointing out which plates were poor and expecting nothing, got the full sized copy by return, gratis.
I've always found the habitat and location details spot on and also the way the ID features have been painted.
The next step is to cross reference with at least two other ID guides, that usually gets me near the mark.

If it helps, it was first published in 1965, second revised ed. in 1969 and third in 1976. There are probably more but that's what's in the front of mine.