During a recent visit to Falconwood Transport & Military Bookshop I managed to buy a copy of BRITISH DESTROYERS: A HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT 1892-1953 for £30.00 … which is about a third of the price I have seen it on sale from several online bookshops.
The book was written by Edgar J March, and published in 1966 by Seeley, Service & Co, and it is a companion book to the better-known BRITISH BATTLESHIPS by Dr Oscar Parkes.
The author of BRITISH DESTROYERS: A HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT 1892-1953 drew heavily on the Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers and Building Plans held by the Admiralty, and it includes 175 photographs and 100 detailed plans, some of which fold-out.
BRITISH BATTLESHIPS: 'WARRIOR' 1860 TO 'VANGUARD' 1950: A HISTORY OF DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND ARMAMENT was published by Seeley, Service & Co., in 1957.
Dr Oscar Parkes OBE was a Royal Navy surgeon, naval historian, marine artist, and editor of JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS from 1918 to 1935. This book has long been regarded as the regarded as a definitive source, and was the result of thirty-two years of research. I already own a copy, and my acquisition of BRITISH DESTROYERS: A HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT 1892-1953 completes the set.
The contact details for Falconwood Transport & Military Bookshop are:
Falconwood Transport & Military Bookshop
5 Falconwood Parade, The Green, Welling, Kent DA16 2PL
Tel: 020 8303 8291
The book was written by Edgar J March, and published in 1966 by Seeley, Service & Co, and it is a companion book to the better-known BRITISH BATTLESHIPS by Dr Oscar Parkes.
The author of BRITISH DESTROYERS: A HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT 1892-1953 drew heavily on the Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers and Building Plans held by the Admiralty, and it includes 175 photographs and 100 detailed plans, some of which fold-out.
BRITISH BATTLESHIPS: 'WARRIOR' 1860 TO 'VANGUARD' 1950: A HISTORY OF DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND ARMAMENT was published by Seeley, Service & Co., in 1957.
Dr Oscar Parkes OBE was a Royal Navy surgeon, naval historian, marine artist, and editor of JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS from 1918 to 1935. This book has long been regarded as the regarded as a definitive source, and was the result of thirty-two years of research. I already own a copy, and my acquisition of BRITISH DESTROYERS: A HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT 1892-1953 completes the set.
The contact details for Falconwood Transport & Military Bookshop are:
5 Falconwood Parade, The Green, Welling, Kent DA16 2PL
Tel: 020 8303 8291
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Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteVery special publications - with the illustrated Plans they would be of great value to the modeler...good plans about the 1/1200th scale are very hard to obtain- with these books I'd imagine them to be a very valuable resources. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteThe level of detail in these two books makes them invaluable as a resource for anyone with an interest in ship design. In the case of the book about destroyers, each class has a fold-out cutaway drawing that shows internal layout as well as numerous large photographs that illustrate design variants. In my opinion, it was £30.00 well spent.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteColour me jealous: that's a really great bargain. There have been a lot of good books published on warship history in recent years but it feels to me as if the big ships have got most of the attention so this copy of March is a particularly good find.
Many years ago, before they insisted you read it in the reference section, Croydon Library's copy of Parkes' British Battleships spent at lot of time at my house. It was not something I could then afford and when I did come to make my first expensive book purchase it was Oman's History of the Peninsular War (mainly because Croydon Library would not let me take it home). Of course, I now have a version on my Kindle which cost the grand total of 99p per volume (but the maps are much nicer in the paper copy and it does look good on my shelves),
Best wished and congratulations on your purchase,
Mike
Mike Hall,
DeleteI must admit to being more than a little surprised to find a copy of this book AND at a price that was more than reasonable!
Funnily enough, the book that I had out on almost permanent loan from the library near where I lived as a child was Donald Featherstone's WAR GAMES ... but the first wargame book that I bought was CHARGE!
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
DeleteLibraries played a huge part in my early life. The first wargame book I ever saw - or even heard of - was Don's "Naval Wargames" in the local library, which I immediately checked out, devoured and used Tony Bath's(?) design to build a fleet of galleys which I still own. For some reason the library would not let me keep it permanently checked out.
The bit in that book about combined operations made me realise that one could do other things with 54mm plastic model soldiers than hide them in cardboard forts and besiege them with airguns and the advert on the back cover pointed me to "Wargames" which was my first purchase. Quite a few books followed it, including "Charge!" of course back in 1967, and for a time it seemed both possible and worthwhile to buy every wargame book that was published.
I still re-read many of those books and wonder why some of the good ones seem to have vanished from the collective memory; for example, I really enjoy Paul Hague's "Sea Battles in Miniature" but haven't seen it mentioned for years.
All the best,
Mike
Mike Hall,
DeleteI spent a lot of time in both the local library and my secondary school library ... and nearly sixty years later, I still have very fond memories of them.
I liked Don's NAVAL WARGAMES, but Paul Hague's SEA BATTLES IN MINIATURE probably had more influence on my naval wargaming. A copy sits in a place of honour on my bookshelves.
All the best,
Bob