There has been an aquarium in Plymouth since 1888. Initially housed at the British Marine Biological Association, the building was damaged during the Second World War and initially it was proposed to await a new building rather than have the original one repaired. As it was envisaged that this plan would be a long time coming, it was eventually decided to repair the building and reopen the Aquarium to the public and so with new specimens having been collected the Aquarium was duly reopened on 5^th November 1946. As this facility grew in popularity after the end of the war, it was redesigned and improved and re-opened again in June 1959. The Aquarium was closed in 1998 when a new much larger aquarium was built to replace it in the historic barbican district and was opened in

the same year under the name The National Marine Aquarium.

This is an extremely interesting, very unusual, and not often seen zoo guide book from one of the U.K’s more well-known specialist zoological collections. Interestingly and aesthetically pleasingly laid out and from the year 2008, the guide books 34 pages give a fascinating insight into what the aquarium is about, what it had to offer and the many species of underwater animals that were on exhibit at the time and the fascinating and extremely educational text is presented as chapters titled ‘Welcome’, ‘Immerse Yourself in Our Underwater World’, ‘An Indoor Rockpool Ramble’, ‘Seahorsin’ Around’, ‘Octopuses’, ‘Deep Into Our Coastal Waters’, ‘Friendly Eels’, ‘…And Confused Wrasses’, ‘Deep Down Below’, ‘Breeding and Feeding’, ‘Ocean Drifters’, ‘Who’s Who’, ‘Visual Spectacular’, ‘Caring For Our Loggerhead Turtle’ and much more. All of this is accompanied by several colour photos of species such as loggerhead turtle, basking shark, grey nurse shark, sand tiger shark, lionfish, pufferfish, boxfish, frogfish, stone bass, lesser weever fish, shanny, seahorse, common octopus, hermit crab, box jellyfish, beadlet anemone and more. This really is a rarely seen and collectable zoo guide book that is an absolute ‘must have’ for any collector of zoo guides and general zoo memorabilia alike. It is an item that rarely, if ever comes onto the market and on the odd occasion that you might be lucky enough to come across a copy, you are unlikely to see it in ‘like new’ condition which is the condition that this copy is in. It is no exaggeration to say that it really is a real gem that will grace any collection and consequently, should be of huge interest and a ‘must have’ item. It will certainly not disappoint. 

Overseas bids are welcome. Overseas postage is £6.00 Airmail to Western Europe and £8.70 Airmail to all other destinations. Please note, both U.K and Overseas postage costs also includes packing, etc & will be reduced when

two or more items are purchased.