Favorite Out-of Print Books???

[jdaley]

Hey Everybody, The publishing company I work for, Dover Books, really wants to reprint some great boat building books that have unfortunately gone out of print undesevedly.
SO, I need everyone to tell me what their favorite out-of-print, hard to find boat-building books are, so we can get them back into circulation at some reasonable prices!
Let me know what you love, and I'll try to get it back on the shelves!!
-James Daley

[nedL]

Motorboating magazine used to publish a 'coffee table' type of hard cover book every few years that was a collection of plans with narratives from their magazine. I know they did this from at least the '30's into the '50's, I have no idea how many there were in the series but there were quitre a few. I'd love to see those reprinted, I have one of the series (used to have two but I guess one grew legs over the years). I see them come up on Ebay occationally but can't even begin to think about bidding on them as they typically go for $50 - $80. - There is a start for you. smile.gif

Thank you mmd, Yes, it was the Ideal series by "MoToR Boating"I was thinking of.

[ 01-14-2005, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: nedL ]

[Bruce Taylor]

W. P. Stephens, Canoe and Boatbuilding for Amateurs

[mmd]

If you're going hunting for game, it might as well be big game:

Sensible Cruising Designs by Herreshoff
Naval Architecture of Planing Hulls by Lindsay Lord
MoToR Boating Ideal series
The Marlingspike Sailor by Hervey Garrett Smith (and all of his other books, too!)
High Speed Small Craft by Peter du Cane

[G. Schollmeier]

One I still want to add to my library is. "The Common Sense of Yacht Design", Herreshoff, on another forum there is a thread discussing it and those looking for a copy. http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1495&page=1&highlight=Herreshoff

Gary :D

[G. Schollmeier]

Bruce,

The W. P. Stephens book is on the net. But it would be nice to have a nice one for the shelf.

Gary :D

[Dave Fleming]

Practical Principles of Naval Architecture

SS Rabl

Cornell Martime Press

1941

[htom]

All of Phil Bolger's out-of-print books. You might be able to get him to update them!

[Venchka]

Any and all of the William Garden books containing his designs. Some of his plans also appeared in "The Rudder". Can those be reprinted?

Ian Nicholson, "Cold Moulding and Strip Planking".

John Guzzwell. I don't have the titles in front of me. Trekka Round the World and the Cold Molding building book.

Hmmmmmmmmmm........some of the above seem to already be in reprint.

Good luck!

Wayne
In the Swamp. :D

[Dave Fleming]

Modern Wooden Yacht Construction:
Cold Moulding, Joinery, Fitting Out

John Guzzwell

ISBN: 0877421064

International Marine

1979

[Bob Cleek]

Well, I've already got everything mentioned so far and I wouldn't want to see any of them go back in print because that would reduce the value of my collection! LOL But I'm not that nasty. I'll give you a few to consider.

The MoTorBoaTing "Ideal Series" is interesting. I have them and contacted Hearst Publishing to discuss putting together a "best of." They wrote back saying they were interested and would get back to me... but didn't.

Pete Culler's "Skiffs and Schooners" is great. Not sure if it is still in print. Same for "Pete Culler's Boats" edited by Burke. "Simplified Boatbuilding" by Sucher with a foreward by Chapelle. "Modern Yacht Construction" by John Guzwell. "Lapstrake Boatbuilding" by Simmons. "Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Ropework" by Hensel and Graumount. "The Art of Rigging" by Biddlecombe. Anything by Harrold A. Underhill ("Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier" etc.) Anything by Charles Davis ("The Built Up Ship Model") Updated edition of "The Mariner's Catalogs" by Spector. And for those really into esoterica, an extremely rare and very collectable "The Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze" by Worchester.

Now, all those I've got. I'd sure like to find copies of some of the GPO navy publications, like "Small Boats" and "Wood as a Boat Building Material." But, I'd give my eye teeth for the "Holy Grail" of boat book collecting: (drum roll... ta da!) Chapman's "Architectura Navalis." Don't know why nobody's ever put out a reprint of that one.

[T.A.R.]

Anything by Dixon Kemp.

[mmd]

Bob, I picked up a new paperback copy of Biddlecombe's "Art of Rigging" two years ago at a mall bookstore. Complete, unabridged (almost - in the publsher's notes they state that they re-arranged a few of the illustrations "for reasons of space") and readily available. Reprint date is 1990.

Dover Publications Ltd.
31 East 2nd Street
Mineola, NY 11501

Edit to add: Check out their marine-related books currently listed in the "winter sale catalogue" here (http://store.yahoo.com/doverpublications/by-subject-winter-sale-2005-maritime.html)

[ 01-15-2005, 08:43 AM: Message edited by: mmd ]

[Bruce Taylor]

Don't know why nobody's ever put out a reprint of that one.English language facsimiles from the sixties and seventies are available at Abebooks.com, priced between $80 and $150 (several publishers: Praeger, Eward W. Sweetman, and Adlard Coles).

Something tells me the 1768 edition would fetch a nice price.

Gary, I did know about the ebooks on Daniel Miller's site: http://dragonflycanoe.com/ . A few years ago, in the full throes of my sailing-canoe-delirium, I printed out a hard copy of the Stephens, one chapter at a time.

I just checked D. N. Goodchild's list, and I see he has the W. P. Stephens there...at a very fair price, too.

Goodchild also has Dixon Kemp's Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing, with plates.

[ 01-15-2005, 09:46 AM: Message edited by: Bruce Taylor ]

[Bob Cleek]

MMD, I have two copies of Biddlecombe. One is a reprint by Edward Sweetman and Co. 1969. It is part of their reprint series that includes some of Charles Davis' stuff. The other is by the Marine Reasearch Society, Salem, Mass. 1925 and is a slightly larger format.

The info on the Uffa Fox reprint was a find. I'll snag one. Anything by Fox is worth having. The "Best of Uffa" is now in print and worth having. Nice collection of contemporary designs.

A word on collecting maritime titles, which I've been doing for over thirty years or so. When a good book comes out, buy it. Because marine books are somewhat esoteric, they aren't going to make the New York Times bestseller list. They come and go quickly. And once gone, they escalate in price rapidly. I acquired my copy of Caravan Maritime Books "The Commonsense of Yacht Design" in 1974 as a "freebie" extra selection of the old Dolphin Book of the Month Club. It's now worth over $100, I expect. Tomorrow's "must have" books now still in print will likely be stuff like "John G. Alden and his Yacht Designs," "The American Built Clipper Ship," "Details of Classic Boat Construction - The Hull," "Sam Crocker's Boats," "Building Classic Small Craft (Gardner)" "Building Small Boats (Roessel)" and "The Rigger's Apprentice" and "The Sailmaker's Apprentice." I expect most of these are available from the WB store. They aren't cheap, but that's because they are good quality stuff. Invest now. You'll get a lot better return on your money than you would from the stock market and the reading is much more enjoyable than the junk mail your stock brokerage mails you!

[Bill Perkins]

Amen Bob , Amen ! I grabbed the two books on Albert Strange commissioned by the Albert Strange Society when I became aware of them ( thanks to this forum ). I wouldn't otherwise have this info on a designer whose work is important to me . Then there's the case of the Woodenboat CDs...

[DougC]

Pete Culler's "Boats, Oars & Rowing" a classic and in demand (comes up on Ebay occasionally and sells for big bucks). I'm an avid customer of Dover publications. Thanks to them many great titles are still available. My most recent purchase was Nessmuk's "Woodcraft & Camping." Keep up the good work!
Doug

[DougC]

Pete Culler's "Boats, Oars & Rowing" a classic and in demand (comes up on Ebay occasionally and sells for big bucks). I'm an avid customer of Dover publications. Thanks to them many great titles are still available. My most recent purchase was Nessmuk's "Woodcraft & Camping." Keep up the good work!
Doug

[RodB]

How about :

"Philip L. Rhodes and His Yacht Designs"

Definitely reprint the two Albert Strange Books... They both cost over $100 and the one out of print is even more than that from what I have seen.

RB

[rbgarr]

Is "A Life in Boats: The Years before the War" by Waldo Howland still in print? Originally published by mystic Seaport.

[Figmental]

Do any of you have "The Voyage of the Nancy"? I would love to have even a Xeroxed copy and would pay well. Any chance? Does anyone know the author or date of publication?
Thanks, David

[Keith Wilson]

Perhaps The Rudder magazine? It was in print for a really long time, 50 years at least, so there's a LOT of material there, maybe too much. Most of it is no longer covered by copyright, I believe. A small "best of" book was published recently, but it had only a very small portion of what was available.

On another subject, how about complete reprints of Gustav Stickley's magazine "The Craftsman"? It was only published from 1910 to 1916 or so, so it's a manageable project, particularly if you leave out the ads - although a facsimile reproduction would be wonderful as well. I'd buy a complete set if I could possibly afford it, and I suspect a lot of other people would too. Ah - with a little research I now see you already have a collection of house plans from the magazine. I still think you should consider a facsimile edition, though.

[Bob Cleek]

Check out Dover Books yet again Keith! "Craftsman Bungalows, 59 Homes from "The Craftsman" Edited by Gustav Stickley. Gustav Stickley, "Craftsman Homes, Architecture and Furnishings of the American Arts and Crafts Movement." Gustav Stickley, "More Craftsman Homes." All "Craftsman" reprints.

[jdaley]

Hey Everybody, thank you so much for all of your help!! I'm going to check out copyright info on all of your suggestions and then let you know when I narrow it down to a final few titles.
And thanks to all of the Dover customers for your support. Anyone who wants to check us out, go to www.doverpublications.com (http://www.doverpublications.com)

Thanks again!!!
James Daley
Reprint Editor

[Mhija]

Self Steering for Sailing Craft by John Letcher.
I paid way too much for a beat copy on eBay and they never seem to come up cheap. IMHO this serves as a pretty fair indicator of market demand for this particular title.

[Mike Dawson]

"Princess" by Joe Richards. Coastal cruising at it's best: ie. before big government bureaucrats were in every small town.