Britains Zoo Models Book

I don't know if this has been posted yet but there is a really great book on the subject of the Britains Herald plastic zoo models.  I purchased my copy from the authour, Barney Brown, on eBay.
The 70 page booklet is a guide to the zoo figures produced between 1960-1971 with a complete list of the range along with a bit of history about the line.

I am interested in the history of the Britains Zoo line, particularly the sculptors and how they went about making these models.  
It seems live animals were used as reference, the 1965 catalogue features George Ford sculpting the 1310 African elephant cow at London Zoo.  

Perhaps some of the forum members have more in depth knowledge on this subject?  Chris Sweetman perhaps?
Does anyone know of any other publications which cover the history of the Zoo line?
I consider the Britains line to be one of my favourites due to the excellent quality of the figures.

Here are a few pictures:


Some early concept sketches along with sculptor George Ford studying an elephant calf which he would later model.

It seems to be an excellent book. How much does it cost ?

Looking at the drawings, I would love BRITAINS made some of them

Kikimalou: The book cost £17.99 when I bought it on eBay but there doesn't seem to be any more listed currently.
There is a link here with the authour's email address and I presume you could buy directly from Mr. Brown by contacting him.
http://www.thetoybox.4t.com/barneybrown.html

For those interested the authour also published two other books:
Britains Herald Plastic Farm Models 1955-69 ~ A Collector's Guide
Britains Floral Garden - Collector's Guide

elephas_maximus wrote:

For those interested the authour also published two other books:
Britains Herald Plastic Farm Models 1955-69 ~ A Collector's Guide
Britains Floral Garden - Collector's Guide

What fantastic drawings !!!!!
I got th far animal one in a trade some time ago, but wasn`t very impressed. It seems the Zoo animals book is much better...and more rare

A phantastic rare book!!!

elephas_maximus wrote:

I am interested in the history of the Britains Zoo line, particularly the sculptors and how they went about making these models.
It seems live animals were used as reference, the 1965 catalogue features George Ford sculpting the 1310 African elephant cow at London Zoo.

Perhaps some of the forum members have more in depth knowledge on this subject? Chris Sweetman perhaps?
Does anyone know of any other publications which cover the history of the Zoo line?
I consider the Britains line to be one of my favourites due to the excellent quality of the figures.

Some early concept sketches along with sculptor George Ford studying an elephant calf which he would later model.

Hi elephas_maximus

I have all three of Barney Brown's books on Britains. They are useful to collectors but lack any real detail. Although Mr Brown points out that his books only discuss the major models not moulding variations. I found the George Ford section in the Zoo animals book most interesting. However, Mr Ford's involvement is discussed at some length in Peter Cole's book - acknowledged by Mr Brown.

Peter Cole's book is called: "Suspended Animation - An Unauthorised History of Herald and Britains Figures". I have found this book extremely useful regarding production of Britains/Herald plastic figures and the main artists behind the sculptures. Regarding the Zoo range Ron Cameron is equally important but his involvement was after George Ford's. The book is a complete history of Britains/Herald and includes a lot of the pre-history behind these two companies as well. I have the first edition and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in these manufacturers. The appendix contains line drawings of every Britains/Herald figure made together with their history and dates introduced/replaced/deleted. These include people along with farm and zoo animals. Here is a link:

http://www.replastic.com/book.php

Background information for my Britains posts comes from this book plus my Britains catalogue collection and personal research.

Norman Joplin's "The Great Book of Hollow Cast Figures" is also very useful particularly for Britains Zoo range because most of these models were based on Britains hollow-cast ones. It provides dates of manufacture and coupled with Peter Cole's book provides the best combination for any Britains collector. It is expensive because it is out of print. Two versions were published, hard back - the original and soft back.

One of the best websites is Richard Lewis':

http://www.thetoybox.4t.com/britainsp1.htm

Again I have found the information here most useful.

Kikimalou wrote:

Looking at the drawings, I would love BRITAINS made some of them

Me too Christophe. Britains Zoo and wildlife range would be even more fabulous if these had made it into plastic!

SUSANNE wrote:

What fantastic drawings !!!!!
I got th far animal one in a trade some time ago, but wasn`t very impressed. It seems the Zoo animals book is much better...and more rare

Hi Susanne

For me every Britians/Herald Zoo animal is most impressive. But then I grew up with them and have the nostalgia illusion.

widukind wrote:

A phantastic rare book!!!

Andreas

The books are not rare. Barney prints them every so often. My wife, Jane, bought all three books last year for me.

Hi elephas_maximus

I was considering writing a Britains zoo/wildlife book covering post 1971 production. However, I need a few more models to obtain first.

Hi Chris, I'm glad you saw my post as I've been looking around the forums and see you are quite knowledgeable about Britains.
I wasn't aware of any other sculptors on the zoo line until I saw your rhino/gaur post about Ron Cameron.
Thank you for providing those two publications, I've know of Peter Cole's book for a while but haven't got around to purchasing it yet......sounds like a good reference book to have.

Do you happen to know what was suppose to be "1312" in the plastic zoo line?
I've always wondered if there was suppose to be another elephant model as it sits between the 1311-Indian elephant and 1313-African calf figures.
Perhaps 1312 was the revised Indian bull elephant but a new number wasn't assigned.

Chris Sweetman wrote:

Hi elephas_maximus

I was considering writing a Britains zoo/wildlife book covering post 1971 production. However, I need a few more models to obtain first.

Please do, I'd buy a copy. I was disappointed Barney's book stopped at 1971, I was hoping he would cover the entire range to the end.

Chris Sweetman wrote:

widukind wrote:

A phantastic rare book!!!

Andreas

The books are not rare. Barney prints them every so often. My wife, Jane, bought all three books last year for me.

Thank you, but here you not often find

elephas_maximus wrote:

Hi Chris,

Do you happen to know what was suppose to be "1312" in the plastic zoo line?
I've always wondered if there was suppose to be another elephant model as it sits between the 1311-Indian elephant and 1313-African calf figures.
Perhaps 1312 was the revised Indian bull elephant but a new number wasn't assigned.

A good question Andrew.

Britains had an Indian elephant calf and an Indian elephant 'teenager' in their hollow-cast line. None of these made it into plastic. The calf pose selected was a brand new design by George Ford and the 'teenager' was too close in pose to the adult Indian elephant. I guess Britains wanted a range of animals quickly and needed to use their resources effectively to include other popular animals. A lot of the hollow-cast poses were from the 1930's and therefore wildly out of date for the 1960's and needed urgently replacing. For example the gorillas, the male lion and the walking polar bear.

elephas_maximus wrote:

Hi Chris,

Chris Sweetman wrote:

Hi elephas_maximus

I was considering writing a Britains zoo/wildlife book covering post 1971 production. However, I need a few more models to obtain first.

Please do, I'd buy a copy. I was disappointed Barney's book stopped at 1971, I was hoping he would cover the entire range to the end.

Thank you Andrew.

Chris Sweetman wrote:

elephas_maximus wrote:

Hi Chris,

Chris Sweetman wrote:

Hi elephas_maximus

I was considering writing a Britains zoo/wildlife book covering post 1971 production. However, I need a few more models to obtain first.

Please do, I'd buy a copy. I was disappointed Barney's book stopped at 1971, I was hoping he would cover the entire range to the end.

Thank you Andrew.

I want a copy too!
Britains is the only brand that made me feel love of collecting a brand. It has some importance considering that I don't care with brands. I don't collect them hardly but I can't say good bye to a single Britains and it is not true to any other brand in my collection.

Chris Sweetman wrote:

A good question Andrew.

Britains had an Indian elephant calf and an Indian elephant 'teenager' in their hollow-cast line. None of these made it into plastic. The calf pose selected was a brand new design by George Ford and the 'teenager' was too close in pose to the adult Indian elephant. I guess Britains wanted a range of animals quickly and needed to use their resources effectively to include other popular animals. A lot of the hollow-cast poses were from the 1930's and therefore wildly out of date for the 1960's and needed urgently replacing. For example the gorillas, the male lion and the walking polar bear.

Thanks Chris, I have the mentioned teenager elephant in my collection. I've managed to get all the elephant models from the zoo line, lead and plastic including the pre and post war 901 Indian elephant variations with rubber/ lead trunks. The 901 is one of my favourites still after all these years from any company.

Hi elephas!
I am a very fanatic Britains collector to, i have most of them since i was about 12 years old or so.
Since i am older now, i do have most of the plastic models, but sadly enough not very much of the hollowcast lead models...

I knew about these books to, and even had contact with Barney Brown about them, he offered me them for 16 euro each.
But when they are not really what you aspect, it would be nice to scan them for us, and save us the buy of these books.
same for the book that Chris mentioned after that.
Would that be possible guys?

elephas_maximus wrote:

Chris Sweetman wrote:

A good question Andrew.

Britains had an Indian elephant calf and an Indian elephant 'teenager' in their hollow-cast line. None of these made it into plastic. The calf pose selected was a brand new design by George Ford and the 'teenager' was too close in pose to the adult Indian elephant. I guess Britains wanted a range of animals quickly and needed to use their resources effectively to include other popular animals. A lot of the hollow-cast poses were from the 1930's and therefore wildly out of date for the 1960's and needed urgently replacing. For example the gorillas, the male lion and the walking polar bear.

Thanks Chris, I have the mentioned teenager elephant in my collection. I've managed to get all the elephant models from the zoo line, lead and plastic including the pre and post war 901 Indian elephant variations with rubber/ lead trunks. The 901 is one of my favourites still after all these years from any company.

Andrew

This sounds like an amazing collection of Britains elephants. I don't have any Britains hollow-cast Zoo animals yet but I do have their rather nice 1:42nd scale African elephant which was part of the Mini-Set range. Set 1033 along with said elephant also included a boy with a bag of buns and low fences on a base.

WILLYBACOMAN wrote:

Hi elephas!
I am a verey fanatic Britains collector to, i have most of them since i was about 12 years old or so.
Since i am older now, i do have most of the plastic models, but sadly enough not very much of the hollowcast lead models...

I knew about these books to, and even had contact with Barney Brown about them, he offered me them for 16 euro each.
But when they are not really what you aspect, it would be nice to scan them for us, and save us the buy of these books.
same for the book that Chris mentioned after that.
Would that be possible guys?

Willy

Hopefully, I will get round to writing this book and use Blurb to print it. When viewing a book on Blurb the author can select how many pages can be viewed so that a customer can decide if this is a book is worth purchasing. Blurb also has a function that allows the "book" to be download enabled for a much reduced price.

Roger wrote:

Chris Sweetman wrote:

elephas_maximus wrote:

Hi Chris,

Chris Sweetman wrote:

Hi elephas_maximus

I was considering writing a Britains zoo/wildlife book covering post 1971 production. However, I need a few more models to obtain first.

Please do, I'd buy a copy. I was disappointed Barney's book stopped at 1971, I was hoping he would cover the entire range to the end.

Thank you Andrew.

I want a copy too!
Britains is the only brand that made me feel love of collecting a brand. It has some importance considering that I don't care with brands. I don't collect them hardly but I can't say good bye to a single Britains and it is not true to any other brand in my collection.

Wow two sold already!

Better get started!

Better a scan, much cheaper, haha! (o)):

Not only with their plastic zoo range, but Britains also claimed they designed their lead zoo range from live animals in London Zoo in 1930.

For all I know, this might have been true for some of them, but a pair (Vols. 1 & 2) of books on my shelves, 'The Living Animals of the World', various contributing authors, published by Hutchinson circa 1902, suggests not all of them. Here are a few photos from Vol.1 which might look familiar to Britains zoo collectors.   

" 

" />

" /

" />

Great book    

Great information Dave    Hausser did the same with German animal pictures.

Very nice Dave, the animals on the pics do look very familiar indeed, i could dream those models, so very recognisable for me!