I looked forward to receiving this book based on the earlier reviews. I returned my copy on receipt. I am a former collector of antique prints - and these were not plates that I would have purchased for my gallery or collection. The quality of water color work of the original plates is not very detailed or interesting. Then beyond this - the actual reproduction and print quality of the book was dull, the black ink overall was printed too heavily and this further dulled the color of the plates, making the reproduction of the original paper dull and gray and the coloring of the shells overall very dull and grayed. This could have been a really beautiful book - but the publisher should have sought out a better original to reproduce from and been more careful with the color separation and printing process. It's an art book about reproduction of watercolors that should be beautiful - not drab as the copy I received was.