The World's Most Beautiful Seashells (Worlds Most Series)
As a child, I found few things more fascinating than seashells:  from the age of 10 until 15,   I would often stay awake all night classifying and sorting shells  that friends and family had sent me from around the world, and my most joyous  summers were spent on the coasts of Maine, North Carolina, Florida,  Washington, and Puerto Rico, gathering shells from the briny wrack.As an adult, I have encountered few more beautifully illustrated  volumes of seashells than this book. All of my favorites are here: the  wentletraps, resembling elaborate spiral staircases (and so  valued for their beauty in the 1800s that a clandestine industry of  counterfeit wentletraps made of rice paste developed in China); the Venus Comb  Murex, which has the beauty of a goddess's most prized hairbrush;   the humble but lavishly calligraphed Nerites; and other  extraordinarily colorful or structurally elaborate homes of homely  molluscs. (This book also provides good evidence for my hypothesis that  indigenous architectures of a region are influenced by the  architecture of indigenous organisms.) An absolutely stunning book, and sure  to be a source of inspiration for children, naturalists, and artists.