Britains Zoo Models Book

Great information Dave, very interresting thanks for sharing. Do you happen to know if 901 lead elephant was referenced from these books as well? It seems to have been modeled after the London zoo elephant rides.

The howdah on the elephant's back is reminiscent of the ones used at London.

elephas_maximus wrote:

Great information Dave, very interresting thanks for sharing.  Do you happen to know if 901 lead elephant was referenced from these books as well?  It seems to have been modeled after the London zoo elephant rides.

The howdah on the elephant's back is reminiscent of the ones used at London.

The link below has the whole of Volume 1, The Mammals, of this book scanned:

http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/118602#page/200/mode/1up

Andrew, you may be interested in page 173. The illustration shows an elephant calf in a pose very similar to the plastic version sculpted by Ford. But this book was published in 1902!

Volume 2: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/116511#page/7/mode/1up features all other animal life.

BTW one of the authors was none other than Frederick Selous. He had an interesting life:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Selous

Hope this helps.

Thank you Chris for sharing the link for the digitized volumes, I always find old wildlife text interesting. I suppose Britains had these books available for their sculptors reference. I will have to comb through both these books to see what other Britains poses I can find!

The pose of the young elephant does look familiar even if it is an Asian.

You might find a few farm animals by Britains as well, plus poses/figures used by other UK manufacturers, such as the playing terrier dog by Cherilea.

I have two pairs of these hefty volumes (I got them all really cheap from 'The Bookbarn', Europe's largest used book store, which is near me), and I've seen them several times in second hand/antiquarian bookshops, at antiques fairs., etc., so I'm thinking it was a popular book, and one which was passed down the generations within families.

Very very interesting stuff!
And i love those old animal texts and knowledge from back then!
Actually my first knowledge on animals came from books like this, but even without pics.
I saw many poses frmo Britains animals, in the lead and plasticseries, and i wonder now why they didn't make their zoo-animal range bigger then is was...

A few days ago I was rechecking my examples of the plastic Guenon Monkey with Barney's book, and noticed he didn't get it quite right in his text. He said the head shape was changed sometime during production, to one with a more pronounced forehead.

Actually there were two moulds all along, no doubt on one sprue to increase rate of production, one with each head shape type: pronounced forehead and more rounded skull shape.
The change over time was with the markings underneath, small lettering 'ENG' on first version, larger lettering 'ENGLAND' on second version.
This obviously gives 4 possible mould versions: 2 head shapes x 2 underneath markings.
Add to that some variety in plastic colour, and it just depends how geeky you want to be in defining 'variations'.  

Time to get your magnifying glasses out folks.

Hi guys this book is now back in stock and I have just ordered it from the author. There are only limited copies available so if interested then order now. The author has kindly signed my copy too.

I have posted another link with details to the authors web page:

https://sts-forum.forumieren.de/t14617-limited-edition-britains-herald-plastic-zoo-models-book-back-in-stock#263947

Hi Everyone . I just found this Britains site and Like the info about Mr. Browns books . I ordered the plastic zoo catalogue book last night . I live in the west suburbs of Chicago , Il. I like @elephas_maximus' Elephant on his profile picture . Along with Roger the administrators Cocodilian ( Gavial ? ) It is nice to meet you all . Terry Cooper

Coop wrote:

Hi Everyone . I just found this Britains site and Like the info about Mr. Browns books . I ordered the plastic zoo catalogue book last night . I live in the west suburbs of Chicago , Il. I like @elephas_maximus' Elephant on his profile picture . Along with Roger the administrators Cocodilian ( Gavial ? )     It is nice to meet you all . Terry Cooper

Welcome here Terry :)

Hi Terry, and welcome here

Chris Sweetman , You stated that r. Brown had three books . Besides the Zoo book , What were the other two ? Thanks .

Chris , That would be Mr. Brown ...

Coop wrote:

Chris , That would be Mr. Brown ...

Hi Terry

Barney Brown’s other books with links to his site are as follows:

Britains/Herald Farm 1955 - 1969:    

http://www.heraldtoysandmodels.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=53&products_id=194

Britains Plastic Floral Garden 1960 - 1970 also includes Britains plastic trees and Floral Garden Folk

http://www.heraldtoysandmodels.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=53&products_id=277

In addition to the above Barney Brown co-authored with Peter Cole has published:

Herald Civilian Models The Golden Years 1953 - 1961 not strictly animal related but does include the Polar Sledge with dogs and horses used for cowboys / Indians etc…

http://www.heraldtoysandmodels.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=53&products_id=193  

Hope this helps.

BTW the Farm and Floral Garden books are out of stock at time of writing.

All are worth purchasing.

Thank You Chris !

Just to say that there are still copies available and now at the price of £39.99
http://www.heraldtoysandmodels.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=53