anna
New Aurelian
Posts: 45
|
Post by anna on Oct 10, 2019 6:56:44 GMT
Am looking for constructive views on which is likely to be my best choice here but I realise its subjective.
I can get Matsuka's Natural History of Birdwings and Schlavo's Outstanding Birdwings for the same price but can only buy one of them.
They both advertise life size images but all I see in photos is pages of 1/2 sides of specimens.
Thoughts please guys, I am in a quandary.
Regards,
Anna
|
|
|
|
Post by Adam Cotton on Oct 10, 2019 8:08:41 GMT
I would definitely go for Matsuka's book. It covers all genera of birdwings, not just Ornithoptera. If you are interested in all the Ornithoptera aberrations then go for Deslisle & Sclavo.
Matsuka's book covers life history with super photos of early stages and live adults in nature, but also has 50 pages of mostly reduced size photos of each different species and subspecies arranged around maps to show what they look like and where they come from. Text is in both English and Japanese, and it's absolutely PACKED with information.
Adam.
|
|
anna
New Aurelian
Posts: 45
|
Post by anna on Oct 10, 2019 12:09:06 GMT
I would definitely go for Matsuka's book. It covers all genera of birdwings, not just Ornithoptera. If you are interested in all the Ornithoptera aberrations then go for Deslisle & Sclavo. Matsuka's book covers life history with super photos of early stages and live adults in nature, but also has 50 pages of mostly reduced size photos of each different species and subspecies arranged around maps to show what they look like and where they come from. Text is in both English and Japanese, and it's absolutely PACKED with information. Adam. Thank you Adam, I wonder, does Matsuka show upper and under views as full specimen or are all depictions as half a specimen arrayed next to a map ?? |
|
|
|
Post by Adam Cotton on Oct 10, 2019 15:53:30 GMT
I wonder, does Matsuka show upper and under views as full specimen or are all depictions as half a specimen arrayed next to a map ?? There are many half specimens, but most species have at least one complete specimen depicted. The picture quality is very good indeed, so the fact that most of them are reduced in size (mainly 60%) doesn't affect the resolution of details. O. alexandrae is life size with upperside and underside of a pair next to a map of the small area they occur in. The maps are very useful as well, showing the distribution of each sp./ssp both as a ringed area and point spots. As well as the butterflies and early stages there are over 30 pages of colour photos of food plants (Aristolochiacea) and 28 pages of text about them too. Adam. |
|
|
|
Post by nomad on Oct 12, 2019 7:39:59 GMT
That's a hard choice, as both have their values. Matsuka's book certainly is a labour of love, as he visited most habitats to see many of the species and find the early stages, and it shows not only set specimens, but others in their living state. It also includes the Trogonoptera and Troides. Outstanding Birdwing Butterflies is a glorious spectacle, all the Ornithoptera of all the races are shown from nearly all the current localities, and whether or not you believe all the species have one or two subspecies, or many, or are local forms, they are all here, in life size and glorious colour, together with many unique aberrations. Large distribution maps show the current known range of each form - subspecies. It is like have one world big/private/museum collection to hand but in two books. No single collection anywhere can match the variety of Ornithoptera shown in these books. Also many new localities have been discovered since Matsuka's book.
|
|
anna
New Aurelian
Posts: 45
|
Post by anna on Oct 12, 2019 8:51:07 GMT
Thanks to both Adam and Peter,
I have agonised over this for weeks, and I placed my order with Pemberly last night , am having both Les Morphos and Outstanding Birdwings.
I was leaning towards Matsukas but the plates are not life size and I watched an incredibly badly done Youtube on Matsukas book, am of the view that this book is not for me as Pemberly have Schlavos at £285.
The freight was a fright as both these books weigh together 9.8kg ( £95) but even so
Pemberlys still came in cheaper than Lepidopteristes.
Am happy , and thank you both for your input, also the previous posting back when it was first released was helpful.
Regards,
Anna.
|
|
|
|
Post by jmg on Dec 9, 2019 17:37:20 GMT
Go to this Roppon-Ashi webpage to learn more about the Matsuka's book : kawamo.co.jp/roppon-ashi/sub177e.htm As far I know, Roppon-Ashi is one of the cheapest booksellers, including the amount of postage. Indeed, this is a marvellous book! |
|
|
|
Post by wollastoni on Dec 9, 2019 18:13:34 GMT
|
|
anna
New Aurelian
Posts: 45
|
Post by anna on Dec 10, 2019 0:12:02 GMT
Thank you, I purchased this from Pemberly ong with Les Morpho as the freight cost along with the exchange rate at that time made the combined purchase a fair bit cheaper than buying the 2 books from seperate suppliers. I also purchased Matsukas book from Roppon Ashi,couldnt decide on one over the other |
|
