With no caving events likely for the near future, we have decided it is time for a project that needed a special circumstance to happen.
Our First listing from Emiy's collection. Be sure to check other collction categories to see the full list of books being offered in stages throughout the year.
Speleobooks owner Emily Davis has been in the caving book business since before she acquired Speleobooks. Through the decades, she has been in the nearly unequaled position to buy, sell and collect caving books from around the world. Now more than a thousand titles sit in her personal collections. With time forced on our hands, we have decided now is the moment to move ahead with offering this treasure trove back to the caving community.
The books will be offered in a series of listings at irregular but not infrequent intervals. We will announce each new listing as they occur. The listings may vary in size and theme, and some themes are bound to repeat as we pull books from the shelves and create listings. This is a once in a lifetime offering which will stretch through the coming weeks and months as long the books and our mutual enforced idleness lasts. First up and just for a starters: A collection featuring picture books and many large format books. There will be much more to follow in coming weeks and months.
We look forward to seeing many of you at caving events in the future with our normal business setup. For now, we are sharing the past and offering lifetime upgrades on caving book collections through this ongoing book sale.
In 2004, "Caves of sky, a journey into the heart of the glaciers" came out, edited by Giovanni Badino, Antonio De Vivo and Leonardo Piccini. The book, published in Italian, English and Spanish, and sponsored by UNESCO for its importance from the ecological-environmental point of view, represents a unique also from the editorial point of view. It is in fact printed in tri-color: a technique that, halfway between black and white and four-color, offers an absolutely not obvious approach to images. Glaciers are the most ephemeral part of the landscape, the only fragments of geology capable of showing variations in the short time of a human life. On the other hand, they are formed by the accumulation of ancient snowfalls, and therefore they are the most evident and stable witness of the meteorological vicissitudes. A piece of sky that plows the mountains. It has been known for a long time that the rivers that flow over them sink into blue chasms, getting lost in the depths of the ice, but only recently the glaciospeleologists have learned to follow them, slowly reconstructing the complex internal structure of the glaciers. These caves, changing like clouds but at the same time stable forms, like whirlpools in a river, are of extraordinary beauty, abysses carved into a fragment of the sky. This book tells them. One hundred and fifty-six pages, hard cover, full of photos and insights.
Texas has about three thousand known, explored caves, ranging in size from small crawl ways to huge caverns. Texas Caves introduces this seldom-seen world, providing basic cave geology and biology, a description of the seven show caves that have been opened and developed for public visiting, and information on state speleological parks. The engaging text as well as one hundred full-color and black-and-white photographs reveal the glories of Texas caves, wild as well as commercial, showing different types of cave formations, the creatures that live in them, and the people who explore them. Caving experiences from cave photographer Blair Pittman, cave discoverer Orion Knox, cave developer Jack Burch, and commercial cave manager Jim Brummett bring to life places that house the hidden beauties that lie beneath the surface of Texas. Texas Speleological Association Chair Gill Ediger adds his thoughts on what it means to be a caver and how cavers, cave owners, and the general public are all involved in the conservation of cave resources. Texas Caves offers a deeper understanding of the underground world of caves and an invitation to those who wish to explore a new dimension of Texas' natural history. One HB copy and one paperback available.
Czech language edition of The Mysterious Underground: 35 years of Czech Speleological Society in Photographs, 128 pp, HB, well illustrated, excellent. Czech caves and international caves explored by Czech cavers. $40.00
Grottes et Canyons: Les 100 plus Belles Courses et Randonnees, Pierre Minvielle, HB laminated, 1977, 231pp, in French, Get ready for the French Congress. Corners banged bottom of spine damages Otherwise very good.
-1455 Metres et Arpes?, Pierre Rias, HB with DJ, no pagination, with many large photographs in colour, record du monde speleo, Samoens 1981. In French,World depth record for the Gouffre Jean- Bernard 1n 1981. Excellent.
L’abide sous La Jungle, J.F. Perrette, Expedition Nationale Francaise- Nlle Guinee,1980, published 1981,HB with DJ, 83pp, many photos and maps, interesting gear lists. In French. banged corner, other wise excellent.
Ich War in dear Unterwelt; Impressionen von abenteuerlichen Höhlenexpeditionen, Gerhard E. Schmitt,1986, HB laminated, in German, New in plastic wrapper. $30.00
Cavernas; Especial N. 1 Monografico Escuain, by Grup D’espeleologia de Badalona Coro Marina, ND, PB, 155 pp, In Spanish. Lots of maps and photos of the groups exploration.
At the Edge of the World: Caves and the Late Classic Maya World View, by Karen Bassie-Sweet, University of Oklahoma Press, 1996, New in new dust jacket. 245 p. Contains: Illustrations.
Radiant Darkness; The Wonderful World of Caves, Alfred Bogli, Herbert W. Franke, 1967, British ed, HB with DJ, in paperboard box, 84 pp, excellent. $30.00
Reliqulae Diluvianae or Observations on the Organic Remains Contained in Caves, Fissures and Diluvial Gravel, and on other Geological Phenomena, Attesting the action of an Universal Deluge but Rev. William Buckland, Second Edition, 1824, 303 pp, Beautiful marble paper end pages and on spine. Corners of first two pages torn but not into text. Book plate, Partly in response to the controversial works of Cuvier, Buckland wrote Reliquiae Diluvianae (1823) in which he argued that the evidence of geology alone demonstrated that a great flood had covered the entire globe. Very rare book. Tight binding, plates clean, no foxing. edges of binding badly rubbed.
Report on the Elura Cave Temples and The Brahmanical and Jaina Caves in Western India, Jas. Burgess, 1970, HB cloth , 89pp plus 50 plates, Good, well used. $30.00
Vlpiv lezik na razvoj kraskih jam (Primer velike doline, Skochjanske Jame) The Bedding-Plane Impact on Development of Karst Caves (An Example of Velika Dolina, Skocjanske Jame Caves) English text in back, 1996, PB, 186 pp, New.
Homes of Primeval Man; Wandering the the caves of Czechoslovakia, Josef Kunsky, 1954. Poor condition, missing a fly leaf. As is $20.00. Copy in box case. Good condition. $40.00
The White Lady of the Brandberg, HB, Abbe Henri Breuil, limited ed printing, 1955, 33 pp text, 19 pages of color plates and photographs including several fold out. Edges worn, external fair, internal good.
Quest for Adventure by Chris Boniington, 1981, 448 pp, HB, DJ worn and torn at corners. Internal very good. Includes the linking of Kingsdale Master Cave and Keld Head.
Pagasarriko Karsta/El Karst de Pagasarri, In Spanish and Basque2000, 165pp, well illustrated, HB, corner dented, Front cover rubbed, otherwise very good, two maps in folders. Many other maps.
Caving, the essential guide to equipment and techniques, Stackpole books, First Edition, High quality paper with many color photographs and illustrated step-by-step sequences. One of many how to books. 96 pp, 2002, PB, excellent.
Merveilles Du Monde Souterrain, Paris: Flammarion, 2003. La Venta Exploring Team. 187 pp., heavily illustrated with color photos. Very good except jacket torn at top 2”,oversized. 1st.. HB, 2003. Flammarion , in French.
The Yanking Caves, Peking: Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1977. HB with DJ and paperboard box. Very Good. Illustrated. Text in Chinese with paperback English translation included.
The Lascaux Cave Paintings, Fernand Windels, Faber and Faber, 1949. HB with DJ, DJ stained and torn, missing piece on top. First Edition. 136 pages. Illustrated dust-jacket over red cloth. Includes black & white and colour photography throughout. Includes 1958 newspaper article about damage to the cave from tourists.
Gorges et gouffres: beautés de la France, Paris Larousse 1977, HB, laminated, Text in French, Includes illustrations. Includes index. corner banged, discoloration on spine and part of front.
Le Monde Secret Des Cavernes by Rene Bonnardel, 1966, HB laminated, 80 pp, fully issustrated with black and white (and a few color) photos. .5 “ chip in lower spine.
Sapore di tenebre, [publisher: Ljubljana, Zaklad, 1998] Gruppo Grotte Carlo Debeljak, Trieste. 100 pp, with both black and white and color illustrations. laminated HB. in original plastic wrapper. New.
Atlas Des Grandes Cavites Mondiales, (Atlas of great caves of the world) Paul Courbon and Claude Chabert, 1986, 255 pp, Pb oversized. Lots of maps text in French. Very Good Condition.
1997, HB, 607 pp, in French, Bottom from over banged and torn. Very large, very heavy. Prolific writer’s correspondence including the letters to the pioneers of caving; Carteret, de Joly and Balsan. $250.00
