Dear MARMAMers, Those of you interested in osteology, osteometrics, articulated skeletons, fossil large-whale remains in museum collections, and a host of other aspects regarding the bones of large whales, will be intrigued by the cataloguing work by Nick Redman from England. For in 2004, Redman started publishing the results of his unrelentless and painstaking research conducted since the early 1980s on the functional and decorative uses of the bones of large whales all around the world. In practise, this research has meant that he went in person to every location, where sources or rumor reported a whale bone monument - a very time-consuming and costly undertaking! After his pioneering books on whale bone monuments in the British Isles (2004, 414 pp), in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic & Switzerland (2009, 205 pp), (see the online reviews at: http://www.cetacea.de/artikel/review/2010/redman_whales_bones.php and http://www.cetacea.de/artikel/review/2004/redman.php) ... he just published Whales¹ bones of the Netherlands & Belgium. Teddington: Redman Publishing, 2010. xx + 161 pp. And Whales¹ bones of the British Isles, supplement 2004-2010. Teddington: Redman Publishing, 2010. vi + 53 pp. Some statistics may give you an idea of the scope and depth of the project as it now is in print: In total, on more than 800 pages, over 1,500 large-whale bone monuments and displays in almost 1,000 locations are meticulously described. Many of them are documented visually, amounting to several hundred illustrations. Over 2,100 written sources are listed in the bibliographies. In addition, several hundred local people were interviewed concerning the wherefroms of existing bones and the whereabouts of dislocated or lost ones. Each volume contains up to almost 40 indices of useful sub-categories, such as mounted skeletons, bone remains originating from stranded whales (the oldest ones from the 13th century), shoulder blades as inn signs, jawbone arches, cattle rubbing posts, whale bones in building structures (rafters, supports, bridges, well posts, fences, stepping stones, etc.) and furniture, whale bones at town halls, castles, forts, churches, monasteries, and cemetaries, in museums, zoos, entertainment parks, commercial exhibitions of skeletons, whale bone monuments in lore, legend, literature, song, toponymy, in the visual arts; and in many other categories. In the hardbound volumes there are maps showing every location of a whale bone monument. The author's care thus makes the volumes extremely reader-friendly reference works, superbly printed and durably bound into the bargain. The first four published volumes form a breathtakingly comprehensive catalogue of a very unique manifestation of humankind's perennial fascination with the great whales. All the hardbound volumes are avaiable for 30 Pounds Sterling each, plus shipping, the softcover supplement is 10 Pounds plus shipping, and all can be ordered directly from the author nick.redman@hotmail.com or through his website http://www.whalebones.co.uk/index.html And Redman's quest continues. In preparation are volumes on the whale bone monuments of the Nordic countries, of the Romance countries, the Slavic countries including Western Russia and the Baltic states, and the Middle East countries. Australia's, New Zealand's and Japan's whale bones have been hunted down by him, and forthcoming on the agenda are the Americas and the other Asian countries. Which means that MARMAM readers - especially from the last-named areas - are cordially invited to report whale bone monuments to Nick Redman through his website, see above; they will be given proper credit in his meticulous works. Buy, and enjoy, a unique, multi-volume catalogue! Cheers Klaus Barthelmesss Cologne, Germany barthval at t-online.de