"Book Review: Warships of the Napoleonic Era " Topic

"The book is subtitled Design, Development and Deployment, and one of the chief features it boasts, bearing a clear and direct relation to this rather analytical sounding terminology, is an extensive use of Admiralty 'Draughts'.

These crisp, clean drawings, beautifully done, and very nicely reproduced here, form an extensive and comprehensive record of predominantly British naval vessels. Thanks to British dominance at sea, however, and the numerous captured boats the Navy acquired as a result of this situation, this record actually extends to cover many vessels of foreign origin…"

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Full review here
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Amicalement
Armand

Thanks Armand; just put in an order for this. You can't go wrong with a Robert Gardiner book where Age of Sail is concerned.
BWW

This must be a new edition.

I've got an older version, where the only illustrations are the admiralty draughts--none of the other paintings and drawings talked about in the review.

I wonder if the text has been expanded as well?

Along the same lines, only more sweeping, is the two volume set "The Ship of the Line" by Brian Lavery

Glad you like it my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Suvorov,

It is a newer edition, you have the 1999 version. It was then issued by Seaforth in this somewhat larger format in 2011.

As stated in the 2011 version inside cover "the core text was published in 1999 – this edition is completely amended with new illustrations".

To be honest the text has not changed very much at all, there were some additional 2-page spreads of text addressing particular design aspects in the newer volume but the main subject descriptions were pretty much identical.

What is different is the illustrations, the ship draughts are now mainly in colour (and in one case spread across a 4-page gatefold which really gives you an idea of how lovely the real things are, they are a work of art in the flesh) and the new pictures of models and paintings added throughout are very well reproduced.

Whether it is worth paying the price for the second version if you already have the first is a matter of choice, the text itself will not have changed enough to justify it in my view if that is your main driver for buying.

I've got both (second version at pre-publication price and it was a present), I must get round to E-Baying the first edition sometime …

Mark Barker
The Inshore Squadron