Thanks for the advice guys. I raided the ash tray and fossicked through the back of the couch etc to raise some funds to get myself a copy of the 41st edition of The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture. It arrived today! ....Now you will have to pry it from my cold dead hands Ha ha ha ha :evil: :-D
I was sort of expecting a book that was largely a reprint of the old book, but I was very wrong. At the first look through, it appears to be mostly new modern information, lots of nice clear colour pictures and about 100 more pages than my old copy. There's a bit of historical stuff that is included (eg. some cool drawings/photos of the A I Root Company offices etc since the 1870's to early 1900's), which is really interesting and relevant to today. It's hard to believe that the book has been in print for about 130 years! I can certainly see why this book is so often recommended and I am really pleased that I managed to get a copy of the 41st Edition to sit along side my 1940 Edition.
I have a couple of really old bee books (well 1930's - 1940's and they are 30 or 40 years older than me :-D) and they are great on so many different levels, not the least of which is the smell of burning hessian when you open them up ...Ahhhhhh. :)