I've finally found some Chapelle

[Old Dryfoot]

I know you can buy them from Amazon but I'm cheap.
Plus I buy too many books to pay full price every time.

Boatbuilding - 1969, and Yacht Design and Panning - 1964, both from a local used book store for less than 20 bucks taxes included. I'm quite happy about it. I'm curious to know however, do later editions of both of these books contain any revisions or additional materials?

Now I just need to find a copy of American Small Sailing Craft.

I also picked up Thor Heyerdahl's The Ra Expeditions and an interesting little book called Oar & Sail by Kenneth Macrae Leighton. The later is an account of Dr Leighton and his voyage from Vancouver to Prince Rupert along BC's beautiful rain forest coast in a hand built Jollyboat.

[JimD]

OD, I wish I'd known you were looking for Boatbuilding. I'd have given you my copy. Mine is the 1994 copyright edition. Don't know if there's any difference.

[Old Dryfoot]

Doh! Oh well, good karma to you when you do pass it on to someone still looking for a copy. I am still looking for The Dory Book and Pete Culler On Wooden Boats...

[Gib Etheridge]

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...+Sailing+Craft

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...ts=t&x=66&y=16

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...n+Wooden+Boats

[JimD]

Doh! Oh well, good karma to you when you do pass it on to someone still looking for a copy. I am still looking for The Dory Book and Pete Culler On Wooden Boats...

Sorry. Don't got none of those. Anything else on your list?

[Old Dryfoot]

Sorry. Don't got none of those. Anything else on your list?

Hehe. No sorry.

I hope it didn't appear that I was fishing for freebies. I'm just pleased with my additions is all.

[Old Dryfoot]

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...+Sailing+Craft

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...ts=t&x=66&y=16

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...n+Wooden+Boats

Thanks for the links.

That is a nice price for the Chapelle, about half of some of the others I've seen. The Dory Book and Pete Culler's book are about the same as buying them from Chapters when I add shipping. I actually think I'll order On Wooden Boats from them tomorrow, I'm really quite anxious to read it.

[TR]

Ken Leighton's book is a little jewel........

[Bob Cleek]

I'd be interested in knowing of anybody has an early printing of American Small Sailing Craft, 1951. (Not to be confused with American Sailing Craft, 1936, also by Chapelle.) AFAIK, there have been no editions but the first, ony reprintings. Unfortunately, the reporductions of a number of the drawings in the book are so much reduced that it is impossible to read the notations or tables of offsets, even under a magnifying glass. All of Chapelle's drawings are available full size from the Smithsonian, of course, but I've found being unable to read the test on the plans frustrating on more than one occasion. I'm wondering if it may be that earlier printings might have been crisper and the extremely small type on the drawings easier to read.

[Jay Greer]

I have great respect for Howard Chapelle and his works. When it comes to special information on wooden boats I still find myself referring to his writings as well as others such as Herreshoff, Fox and Stevens to name a few. Interestingly enough, when I was once a guest in the home of L. Francis Herreshoff I came across a publisher's proof of "Boat Building" that had been sent to Skipper by Chapelle himself. Now, these were two men who besides being friends were also men of great maritime knowledge! Even so, Skipper's copy was filled with his penciled in corrective additional comments all of which he considered to be either "horse manure" or "good information"; which all goes to show that even experts do not always agree on the same subject and is why this forum is such a good thing for us all.
Jay

[John Meachen]

I have often wondered whether the acknowledgement to Bud MacIntosh at the beginning of Boatbuilding refers to the same man who later wrote another excellent book on boatbuilding.

[Paul Pless]

Now I just need to find a copy of American Small Sailing Craft.

They are all wonderful. After American Small Sailing Craft, I especially enjoy The American Fishing Schooners, for the collection of hand drawings of hardware and rigging in the last 1/3 of the book.

[Old Dryfoot]

I was flipping through Boatbuilding and what should I find...

[Bob Cleek]

I have great respect for Howard Chapelle and his works. When it comes to special information on wooden boats I still find myself referring to his writings as well as others such as Herreshoff, Fox and Stevens to name a few. Interestingly enough, when I was once a guest in the home of L. Francis Herreshoff I came across a publisher's proof of "Boat Building" that had been sent to Skipper by Chapelle himself. Now, these were two men who besides being friends were also men of great maritime knowledge! Even so, Skipper's copy was filled with his penciled in corrective additional comments all of which he considered to be either "horse manure" or "good information"; which all goes to show that even experts do not always agree on the same subject and is why this forum is such a good thing for us all.
Jay

Reviewing Herreshoff's notes must have been fascinating. Don't get me wrong. There's a reason everything Chapelle ever wrote holds a place of honor on my bookshelf. That said, one does have to read Chapelle with a critical eye. On more than one occasion, I've found the HAMMS drawings to contain glaring errors and some of those have found their way into Chapelle's books uncorrected. The Historic Merchant Marine Survey was a WPA project that employed a bunch of draftsmen to go around taking off the lines of old vessels during the Depression. Some of these guys were very good. Some, aparently, not so good. Most significantly, there is little certainty that the lines of any particular boat they found and recorded represent the finest example of the type, nor even a fairly decent representation of the type. Regrettably, Chapelle rarely gives data from which we can determine the representative accuracy of the lines in his books.

[Michael D. Storey]

I would say that I have been able to build a creditable library of boat and maritime volumes dating back to 1656 by snooping used book stores. Sometimes only one good volume, sometimes none. maybe it is because of my east coast mid atlantic locale, but this stuff is available, and on the cheap. None of it is as collectible as are other topics. Same with maritime art. It is still a niche diversion

[Bob Cleek]

I would say that I have been able to build a creditable library of boat and maritime volumes dating back to 1656 by snooping used book stores. Sometimes only one good volume, sometimes none. maybe it is because of my east coast mid atlantic locale, but this stuff is available, and on the cheap. None of it is as collectible as are other topics. Same with maritime art. It is still a niche diversion

Amen to that! I never miss an opportunity to check out a used book store, even though the internet has put so many of them out of business. On the flip side, the internet booksellers have eliminated a lot of the looking and a single book has a huge exposure in the marketplace, so the prices of these maritime titles, even in a niche market, have skyrocketed. As you, I've amassed quite a library over the years, about 25' of floor to ceiling shelf space packed solid. Most of the volumes were purchased used. I'm on the west coast, so I expect pickings are slimmer out here, but still, I've made some nice scores. The booksellers often aren't aware of the value of maritime books. I got a mint copy of the Naval Institute Press reprint of Worcester's "Junks and Sampans of the Yangtse River" for twenty bucks. It's now going for around $400. Or a first edition of LFH's "The Commonsense of Yacht Design" which I acquired as a freebie "sign up" premium from the old Dolphin Book Club when it was first published. That volume now goes for between $250 and $350. My copy of Sucher's "Simplified Boatbuilding" cost me $8 in a used bookstore. It's worth about $150.

I haven't got zip for a retirement savings, but the books on my shelves have appreciated a whole lot better than my IRA!

[Paul Pless]

about 25' of floor to ceiling shelf space packed solid

I have twelve bankers boxes of schooner porn

[Bob Cleek]

I have twelve bankers boxes of schooner porn

I hope the pages aren't stuck together!

[Old Dryfoot]

I have twelve bankers boxes of schooner porn

How do you manage to hide all of that under the mattress?

[donald branscom]

I know you can buy them from Amazon but I'm cheap.
Plus I buy too many books to pay full price every time.

Boatbuilding - 1969, and Yacht Design and Panning - 1964, both from a local used book store for less than 20 bucks taxes included. I'm quite happy about it. I'm curious to know however, do later editions of both of these books contain any revisions or additional materials?

Now I just need to find a copy of American Small Sailing Craft.

I also picked up Thor Heyerdahl's The Ra Expeditions and an interesting little book called Oar & Sail by Kenneth Macrae Leighton. The later is an account of Dr Leighton and his voyage from Vancouver to Prince Rupert along BC's beautiful rain forest coast in a hand built Jollyboat.

You got a lifetime book!!! "Boatbuilding"

[smallyachtsailor]

I'd be interested in knowing of anybody has an early printing of American Small Sailing Craft, 1951. (Not to be confused with American Sailing Craft, 1936, also by Chapelle.) AFAIK, there have been no editions but the first, ony reprintings. Unfortunately, the reporductions of a number of the drawings in the book are so much reduced that it is impossible to read the notations or tables of offsets, even under a magnifying glass. All of Chapelle's drawings are available full size from the Smithsonian, of course, but I've found being unable to read the test on the plans frustrating on more than one occasion. I'm wondering if it may be that earlier printings might have been crisper and the extremely small type on the drawings easier to read.

I have a 1951 edition and (with my reading glasses on) can read all the fine text and numbers in the diagrams. I'm not willing to part with my copy of the book but if you need particular numbers, etc. let me know.