Fossils, Minerals and Rocks: Collection and Preservation

British Museum (Natural History) / Cambridge University Press, Published 1982. Hardcover, 60 pp.; 22 cm; First Edition; illustrated with black-and-white photographs and line diagrams; index. In Very Good condition, no dust jacket (issued without one). Orange illustrated cloth boards with trilobite on front show light bumping to edges and corners, mild overall edge and surface wear, some soiling and spotting to rear board, prominent bump to top edge of rear board, fading to top edge and spine, and a little color loss to corner tips. Binding tight. Previous owner's name in ink at top corner of front free endpaper; otherwise pages clean and unmarked. Practical field and laboratory manual from the British Museum (Natural History), written by the head of its Palaeontology Laboratory and the head of its Petrology Section for amateur and professional collectors. Covers field equipment and tools, sources of information (guides, memoirs, journals, maps), collecting and recording minerals and rocks, transport and curation, and, at greatest length, fossils: extraction, plaster-bandage and polyurethane-foam cocooning of vertebrate bones, mechanical and chemical preparation, consolidation and repair, pyrite decay, storage, and a table of chemical hazards with disposal codes. Illustrated with photographs of tools, specimen labeling, nodules, and a Pleistocene elephant excavation at Aveley, Essex, plus diagrams of cocooning technique. Guide to further reading, list of materials and suppliers, and addresses at end. Contents: Introduction (Conservation, Safety); Field equipment (Clothing, Tools); Sources of information (Guides and memoirs, Journals, Books, Maps); Minerals and rocks (Collecting, Recording, Transport, Preservation of specimens, Curating a collection); Fossils (Collecting, Preparation, Conservation, Pyrite conservation, Curation, Chemical hazards); Further reading and sources of reference; Materials, manufacturers and suppliers; Addresses; Index.…