The Boys' Book of Warships J. R. Howden 1911 Illustrated Naval Hardcover

The Boys' Book of Warships is J. R. Howden's 1911 naval history for young readers, a hardcover from Grant Richards Ltd. of London with over one hundred illustrations from photographs.

The front cover keeps its full color orange and black warship scene, but the structure is rough: the top of the spine is torn, the front hinge is split open with the mesh showing, and old tape runs down the gutter, all of it in the photos.

Howden walks through the hundred years' war between France and England, the arrival of cannon aboard ship, the ironclads and monitors of the American Civil War, and the pre-dreadnought battleships of the French and United States navies, with data tables of launch dates, displacement, and speed. It suits a reader who wants the 1911 view of naval power, or a collector who keeps a reference copy of a book too fragile to read from.

Details

• Item: Hardcover book
• Title: The Boys' Book of Warships
• Author: J. R. Howden
• Illustrator: Not confirmed from photos
• Publisher: Grant Richards Ltd., London
• Publication Year: 1911
• Edition and Printing: Printed by the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh, 1911
• Format and Binding: Hardcover, dark green cloth boards with a color pictorial front
• Dust Jacket: No dust jacket present
• Genre: Naval history, juvenile nonfiction
• Language: English
• ISBN: None printed
• Dimensions: 8 by 6 by 2 inches

Condition Grade: Fair

Positives

• Graded Fair: a reading and reference copy with a split hinge and a torn spine head, every flaw named below.
• The front cover is fully colored, with the orange sky and the black warship silhouette still sharp inside their black border.
• The title page is complete, with the author line naming The Boys' Book of Locomotives, the note about over one hundred illustrations from photographs, and the Grant Richards imprint.
• The color frontispiece is present, Leading the Fleet, H.M.S. Lord Nelson at Sea.
• The printing page reads Printed by the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh, 1911.
• The figures survive, including The New Ironsides, A Monitor: The U.S.S. Terror, and the Launch of the Lord Nelson at Jarrow.
• The data tables are intact and legible, including the French pre-dreadnought list and the United States Navy list.
• The text reads cleanly on every spread shown, from the historical introduction through page 129.

Issues / Wear

• The top of the spine is torn, with a horizontal rip near the head and the cloth frayed and peeling.
• The front hinge is split, with the inner mesh exposed and frayed along the gutter.
• Old adhesive tape runs down the gutter on the inside of the front cover and the first page, yellowed with residue.
• The cloth along the back hinge is worn through to the board underneath.
• The board corners are bumped and frayed, with the cardboard showing at the lower corners.
• The back cover carries widespread light spotting and scuffing across the green cloth.
• The pages are heavily foxed and tanned, with the page edges dark brown and uneven.
• The bottom edge of the boards is worn and slightly warped.

This copy keeps its color frontispiece, its figures, and both fleet tables, and it belongs on a shelf of naval history read for the tables as much as the text. If it's the right copy for you, it's ready to come home.