Echo Press, Hopewell, NJ, 1998, 1^st pr thus.  ISBN 0-88001-630-2.  Trade soft cover, 203 pages.  Very good; light edge and cover wear, tiny corner bends, some wrinkling to laminate; binding sound.  Black & white illustrations and maps by Leonid.  ‘On the northwest coast of France, just around the corner from the English Channel, is the little town of Locariaquer (pronounced “Loc-maria-care”).  The inhabitants of this town have a special relationship to the world, for it is their efforts that maintain the supply of the famous Belon oysters, called les plates (the flat ones). … a vivid, fascinating account of how Belon oysters are cultivated and, at the same time, is an excursion into the historical background, myths, and legends of Brittany.  At the center of this unique narrative, presented in turn after turn of slowly accumulating drama, are the lives of people who make the oyster growing possible.’ (from rear wrap)