Another post on the excellent How and Why Wonder Books series of nearly 100 titles (see 9 February below). Previously I described the high quality art work, especially the covers. How I was introduced to them via my late sister Bernadette Bazzoni having about 10 books bought by our father.
I now have about 77 of these, and the amount of detailed information in many of the humanities subjects: Crusades, Lady of the Lamp,Old Testament is surprising. Some of the scientific texts such as Interplanetary Travel have suffered as a result of rapid scientific advance. Written in 1960 some of the stated 'facts' become erroneous following planetary probes and the Apollo missions.
And today the discovery of Gravitational Waves again renders some information in many physics texts inaccurate. The hypothesised wave by Einstein is now confirmed. Gravitational waves have been detected between galactic bodies & originated a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang
Titles published after 1974 are usually rare. Snakes published in 1975 above. It features the cheaper photograph which the Americans opted for to lower production costs at this time.
Another American title.Looks quite effective until you realise it's one desk lamp pointing at a curtain!
A British only title next! These are rarer as fewer were printed. Everyone wanted a copy of Dinosaurs. This one is from 1970 as it's in the transition from imperial to decimal coinage. Hence two prices:
Worst artwork of the series during the 'illustrated cover era'
Another rare one but with a fabulous artwork-
Here the very rare British title Heraldry
Finally the rare and expensive Arms & Armour with a stunning illustration-
The very last titles of the How & Why Wonder Book series-
Never seen or heard until recently these ones:
- 6596 Rare Animals 6597 Ancient Egypt 6598 Oil 6599 Parliament
- 6600 The Ice Age 6601 Arab World - this will be very interesting as it predates the Iran Revolution & everything that has happened since
I purchased a copy of the Arab world at a second hand shop for 20 cents, arms and armour, parliament and pets was also there. The lady said just to take them, I give her $20 because I've seen a copy of arms and armour for £100 on Amazon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info Honey. I got my Arms & Armour for £1.50. As you say it is very expensive. Fascinated by your other titles, especially Arab World as it is the last one & just predates Iran Revolution & all the changes in the Arab world that has occurred since then. So far I've never seen these titles.
DeleteHello it's Angus here, I'm the one interested in your copy of arms and armour, any way I've nearly all the uk versions some I've doubles of. I'm interested to know if you have Radio and Tv, when it appeared on eBay it started a bidding war between 3 buyers, it went past £65 but ended up costing me about $180 AUD after postage. The other two bidders are sellers as well and they now don't sell to me anymore.
DeleteIf you'd like give me a list of any titles you don't have (British and American) and I'll see if I've got doubles of them.
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