Some ol books

[DaleC]

Here are some books I've collected during my surface intervals.

Jac's first book. Pretty funny as he begins solo diving on dive one with gear he's never seen much less used before. What would they say today??? Thank god for those crazy bastards. 1950 (US)

Jac's at it again. 1963

A plongeur contemporary of JYC. BTW, what's the deco for 4000 years under the sea anyways? 1954 (UK)

The german Cousteau (or is it the other way around). In either case "Look out for that ray Hans!!!" 1952

A husband and wife team. I learned how to make a quick release for a weight belt by using a door hinge and a cotter pin. Lots of vintage photos of french diver girls in bikinis. 1955

Well, not neccisarily vintage but dry reading just the same. From Pg. 82:
Q: Please comment on the use of the tables by older divers.
A: If your a little older, use the next deeper depth or longer time. If you're much older use both. If you're very much older, also pray. 1979

This can't be vintage because it says it's the new revised edition of the new science. I imagine he is saying "If you hold a shell up to your ear under water you can hear the ocean". 1970

 

[duckbill]

That "New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving" cover brings back my oldest diving related memories. My older brother had that same edition sitting on his dresser and I loved looking through it in the early 70s. My adolescent mind especially liked the narced diver's mermaid friend Funny thing is that my brother never got into diving, but I did.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

This looks like a very good idea to get old books known again. I have several I will share here.

The first book is The Blue Continent by Folo Quilici, copyright 1954.

Since this doesn't have a jacket, I couldn't give you that. But it does have some wonderful color photos inside, both of diving and topside shots. The following one is from the first color photo page, and shows the equipment that was being used. Some was shot in the Medittaranian, and some off Egypt (in what they knew as the Coral Barrier of Shadwan, Egypt).

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Here's another very old book from my library, Philippe Diole's first book on diving, The Undersea Adventure, Copyright 1953.

Many people know of Diole as a co-author of many of Cousteau's books, including Life and Death in a Coral Sea, Dolphins, and several others of Tthe Undersea Discoveries of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. But few know of his background, which was given by the jacket of this, his first book on diving (that I know of, at least). Here it is:

Dale, I didn't know about the other Diole book that you have, [I[4000 Years Under the Sea[/I]. That sounds interesting too.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Skin Diving and Exploring Underwater is a 1955 book by John Sweeney, and gives good "how to dive" advise. Mr. Sweened was a Canadian frogman who grew up in Bermuda. Here's the back jacket of this book.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

The Young Sportsman's Guide to Skin Diving by Joan and Van Ellman is perhaps the second book on diving written by a husband/wife team (copyright 1961, it came out five years after Rick and Barbara Carrier's book, dive, the complete book of skin diving (I purposely did not capitalize the title, as it's title is not capitalized on that book's jacket). There is a photo of Van standing on the Calypso with Falco and Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and he is wearing what appears to be a new Mistral with yellow hoses and a black, straight mouthpiece. Joan took the photos for the book, and Van wrote the text.

Here are several pages of this book:

What is interesting is that Nemrod products are shown prominently in this book, and perhaps they had an interest in that company and its gear. The photo on the right of page 21 (the last one shown) is of the authors.

John

 

[John C. Ratliff]

The last book I'll share tonight is The Handbook for Skin Divers, which is from the 1950s, I think, but has no copyright on it at all. There are diagrams in this book about how to make a Hawaiian Sling, a how-to on hand-making a wet suit, and many photos of equipment from the 1950s, including Aqualung, Scott, DESCO, dry suits in use by divers spearfishing in the Midwest and Great Lakes, just a wonderful book that is yellow with age and disintegrating, but even shows wet subs.

Enjoy,

SeaRat

 

[David Wilson]

The Young Sportsman's Guide to Skin Diving by Joan and Van Ellman is perhaps the second book on diving written by a husband/wife team (copyright 1961, it came out five years after Rick and Barbara Carrier's book, dive, the complete book of skin diving (I purposely did not capitalize the title, as it's title is not capitalized on that book's jacket). (...) What is interesting is that Nemrod products are shown prominently in this book, and perhaps they had an interest in that company and its gear. The photo on the right of page 21 (the last one shown) is of the authors. John

Above is another illustration from my own copy of The Young Sportsman's Guide to Skin Diving by Joan and Van Ellman, again featuring Nemrod gear (fins and tank) and also what looks like a Skooba-"totes" drysuit, which recurs elsewhere in the same book:

I like the last picture in particular, wondering whether the diver or the dog is warmer as they ponder the hole in the ice.

 

[David Wilson]

The last book I'll share tonight is The Handbook for Skin Divers, which is from the 1950s, I think, but has no copyright on it at all. There are diagrams in this book about how to make a Hawaiian Sling, a how-to on hand-making a wet suit, and many photos of equipment from the 1950s, including Aqualung, Scott, DESCO, dry suits in use by divers spearfishing in the Midwest and Great Lakes, just a wonderful book that is yellow with age and disintegrating, but even shows wet subs.

Enjoy, SeaRat

The 1956 edition of George Bronson-Howard's handbook for SKIN DIVERS is a title I've owned since the early 1960s, when I purchased the book for 3 shillings (there were 20 shillings in the pound back then!) in a used bookstore in the indoor market in my native Newcastle upon Tyne. It's a wonderful book full of pictures of men and women enjoying underwater swimming in the pioneering days, alongside helpful advice such as how to make your own wetsuit.

Fawcett Books/Arco Publishing Company deserve a medal for publishing a series of skin and scuba diving handbooks during the 1950s and 1960s, each written by a different author, each with different content and structure. I've managed to collect what I think are all of them over the decades, sadly now browning with age:
Lil Borgeson and Jack Speirs: Skin Diver Handbook (undated)

John E. Cayford: SKIN AND SCUBA DIVING

Lil Borgeson and Jack Speirs: SKIN AND SCUBA DIVER (1962)

Jim Martenhoff: HANDBOOK of SKIN and SCUBA DIVING

You can see the front covers of all these books reproduced at
CLASSIC DIVING BOOKS - 19th Century titles.
with a short introduction celebrating their impact in boosting early skin and scuba diving.
All the above have a similar "feel" to them, a colourful front cover outside and a cornucopia of monochrome pictures inside, illustrations of period equipment and plenty of happy skin and scuba divers posing with their recent gear acquisitions.

 

[Sam Miller III]

John C...

Books are documents offer a glimpse into an era and should to be treasured and maintained in the best possible condition.

The covers also are a huge component of the value of a book. Books with torn or otherwise damaged and especially missing a "dust jacket" aka "book cover" are generally referred to as a "reader" or a "research" document and have considerably less value than one with and intact original dust jacket.

At the first US Diving Bibliophile meeting about 10 years ago it was decided that a book could be covered by a color photo copy or a computer generated cover to increase it's cometic appeal as well as it's value, however, when sold or traded the it should be noted that the cover was not original.

Do you self and certainly those poor books a favor and purchase a supply of Broadart books covers at your local book shop or from E bay and immediately begin protecting those jewels.

For your soft covers may I suggest a acid free envelope which can be found at book stores, office supply stores and where I obtain mine at a college book store.