Jannette
Claudia
quarian Minds Want * To Know .. Âť A Question and Answer column moderated by Claudia Dickinson and Jannette Ramirez Pouring through books, perusing over the globe, conversing heartily with our peers in friendly debate, listening in rapt attention to the words of a distinguished lecturer in a packed auditorium, only to return to our own tanks to ponder further over our own fish and our hobby Be it the first year, or the fortieth year, for as many years as we care for our aquatic inhabitants, there are as many questions as there are answers. With every corner turned, in our discovery of each new species offish or plant and with every new spawn, our insatiable inquisitiveness only grows and flourishes without bounds on this, the journey of our hobby. CD. This month's theme of The History of the Aquarium Hobby brings up so many questions where did it all begin and who were the pioneers who led the way? How did we and our fishes get to where we are today? As we begin to understand the answers to these and many more questions, we will then know in what direction that we are going, and how best to proceed for the preservation of all for the future It is with deep gratitude that I welcome two aquarists who are very dear to me personally, and truly a treasure to our hobby as whole. Wayne Leibel and Lee Finley have so generously taken their time and made the effort to share their vast knowledge on this subject of the history of our hobby with the GCAS, and for this we warmly thank them!
"Who was William T. Innes, and what was his influence on the aquarium hobby as we know it today?"
William T. Innes was the son of a long line of Philadelphia printers, distantly related to Benjamin Franklin. He was a photography hobbyist who attended a meeting of a goldfish •^. society in Philly at the urging of a friend, and the rest is history. He printed the first edition of a goldfish book authored by Herman Wolf in 1908, secretary of the Philadelphia Goldfish Club, which was really an expansion of several roundtable discussions at that fish club. When Wolf did not want to write a second edition of the book (the first printing was only 1 000 copies and ran out), Innes himself revised it as Goldfish Varieties and Tropical Aquarium Fishes. He later authored the classic Exotic Tropical Fishes (1935) and published his seminal magazine The Aquarium from 1932 - 1960s, as well as Goldfish Breeds and other Aquarium Fishes: A Guide to Freshwater and Marine Aquaria, Their Fauna, Flora and Management (1908), by Herman T. Wolf. This book had 385 pages, 15 chapters, and 280 beautifully illustrated drawings. Only 1,000 copies were printed. This book was written from detailed notes taken at meetings of The Aquarium Society of Philadelphia (founded in 1898) in 1900. Published by Innes & Sons, Philadelphia, PA, this book was handset and printed by the famous Innes Jr. It covers most of the aspects of this hobby that was known at that time. It also formed the basis for Innes' books, published at a later date.
Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S. (NY)
June 2004
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