The new two-volume Zoological Society of San Diego centenary history is oustanding..possibly the best value book of ANY kind ive EVER bought.The two books come in a slipcase and then a presentation box..as a collector of ANY zoo book in ANY language,I own nothing to rival it for value for money.But heres the rub...if you are non- european it will cost you $72 to get it here and the book itself is only $49! In all fairness it is pretty heavy.
Sorry that should read european not non-european..and im assuming that Australians,New Zealanders or whatever would have a similar problem.Americans fill your proverbial boots therefore.
I have a few hundred zoo-themed books and I know that Tim likely has a few thousand and so if he says that the two-volume centenary San Diego Zoo books are "outstanding" then they must be worth the money. I caved in (as I always knew that I would) and spent $100 Canadian to order the pair of books and get them shipped up to British Columbia. While I was at it I spent heavily on the new Honolulu Zoo centenary book, as well as Elmwood Park Zoo: Images of America Series and American Zoo: A Sociological Safari. That groan you hear is my bank account but I'm excited to add 5 new zoo-themed books to my collection.
I received the two San Diego Zoo books in the mail today and they are spectacular. If you like books and zoos then you can't really do any better...place an order today! The San Diego Zoo - The First Century - Shop San Diego Zoo Another excellent purchase: honoluluzoobooks.com
So frustrating that the SD books can't be shipped to many overseas locations, including Australia. In contrast, the Honolulu book ships worldwide.
I picked up this set when I was there two weeks ago. Very impressive as stated (with the slipcase). I have not started reading them yet, but I think I will tonight. If anyone out of country desperately wants a set and the zoo will not ship to your country, you can send me a PM. I just renewed my lapsed membership and will be going to San Diego at least a couple times a year, possibly in early July to meet up with Kakapo visiting from Spain. My small (very, very small) photo side business has a PayPal account whereby I could send you a PayPal invoice via email and you just click on the link and enter your credit card to reimburse me. I do not want to do this for like thirty ZooChatters, but if there are one or two who are serious collectors and cannot buy it through the zoo itself, I am happy to help.
I'll toss my hat in for assistance as well. I get a sizable discount on shipping, and would be glad to help out. It can be in conjunction with AD or otherwise. I'm not particular.
For those of you in Australia: Zooboy28 ordered the book via a service he discovered that is offered by Australia post. They have a setup for ordering products from places that do not ship to Australia and it is about half the price of an individual (like me) sending to Australia via US Postal Service. If you want the details you can send him a Private Message.
The service is called ShopMate: https://shopmate.auspost.com.au/ There is a similar service offered by NZ Post for those in New Zealand, this actually offers postage from UK/Europe and China as well as USA. It is called YouShop: https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/youshop I suspect other countries may have similar services.
I received the books today, and they look fantastic. So far the highlight of random browsing has been a photo from the 1930s showing two well-dressed ladies with a pair of Giant Anteaters on leads, and a caption describing how the Zoo (supposedly) loaned these animals out to locals who had Argentine Ant infestations! Brilliant. I'm looking forward to reading these in detail. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Australia Post's ShopMate service for shipping things to Australia. The box the books came in had been ripped open at both ends, so is not really a good collectors piece anymore. I also ordered the San Diego Zoo and Safari park guides, which have been published by Beckon. When I visited San Diego two years ago the Zoo's guide was not yet available so I only got the Safari Park guide. Both are excellent guide books, although lacking maps they cover almost everything else very well (and as such they are 144 and 208 pages long respectively!).
For anyone outside the USA, still searching - the books are currently available (in limited numbers) to buy via Amazon.Com (*not Amazon.co.uk*) for $50 dollars plus shipping. Frustratingly they're now half price on the official San Diego Zoo online shop but the cost of the zoos international postage service still makes the Amazon offer very much cheaper despite them still being full price! https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692397922/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
If you live in the USA and do not have these yet, they are now half price on the zoo website! The San Diego Zoo - The First Century
Received this magnificent edition from FedEx last week, ordered from Ebay. Can recommend MyUS Shopping service for the ones who want to order from USA and there is no International shipping. I am not sure how you pay custom fees, cos Norway has ridiculous fees on almost everything, but luckily not on books. Paid $15 for a new copy + 36 delivery.
