[Taxacom] Journals / papers collection

[Mark O'Shea]

I think we basically agree John, pdfs are utilitarian, original papers are historical and potentially collectable. And I also agree with your comments about historical annotations. Back in the 1980s I picked up three leather-bound volumes of the Journal of the Natural History Society of Siam in an antiquarian bookshop in Guildford, England. Each volume had numerous papers by Malcolm A Smith (1875-1958), one of the most prolific of British herpetologists working in South and Southeast Asia in the early 20th century. The top corner of every paper by Smith was signed by himself and there were annotations in the margins, even corrections regarding the clutch size of king cobras. Seeing me looking at these old volumes the book shop dealer said they came from a house clearance in nearby Leatherhead, an old gent has died (possibly a relative of M.A.Smith), and although he was asking 4 pounds sterling for each volume I could have all three for eleven pounds. 
I needed no second bidding and have treasured them ever since.
But I won't be adding my own annotations to these historical volumes and in the unlikely event that I needed to take copies of Smith's papers with me overseas I would scan and pdf them. "Horses for courses" as they say.


Mark O'Shea
Herpetologist with 30 years tropical fieldwork experience and herpetological bibliophile