NavList:

----- Original Message -----

From: William Allen

To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERVWEBKAHUNA.COM

Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2004 1:27 PM

Subject: Re: Buying secondhand maritime books.

George,

I paid US$95 for the Andrewes book.  This seemed a bit high, but I only
found three listed on Abebooks, and this copy was the cheapest.
Interestingly, all three listings spelled the author's last name
differently, so I found these three by searching on the title only.  I
have not seen the book yet (it is on the way) but I am using George's
spelling of the author's name in deference to my experience with his
usual precision and expertise.

I also am a bookworm, collecting old books on navigation and other
nautical themes. Unfortunately, I don't have the access to the second
hand book shops that George describes, which I can imagine are nearby to
him (having lived in Oxford myself for a number of years).  Southern
California (Santa Barbara) where I presently reside, although providing
beautiful sailing weather, seems somewhat deficient in reasonably priced
used books on these topics.

I rely primarily on Abebooks (with some 100 books stored in Wants),
although occasionally there is a deal to be had on Ebay (but too many
participants these days are chasing the 19th century Bowditch, Norie,
and other well known texts).

I have also left standing orders using Amazon.com for used books at my
designated price and condition.  Very seldom do I get hits, though.  For
example, I left an order for Cotter's History of Nautical Astronomy (I
think this is the proper title -- I don't have it in front of me) for
almost two years with no response.  I finally found a copy through
Abebooks at Maggs Brothers in London (author's name was misspelled in
the listing -- probably why it was still available) and picked it up in
person on a business trip.

My interest in these books stems from my own boating life. I own a
classic old wooden trawler that I have been working to restore (pictures
can be seen at www.elvica.com -- horrific pictures of the re-framing,
re-planking, re-decking, etc. at Ventura harbour boatyard can be seen
using the link on this site). I have scoured antique stores around the
world on my travels to find interest items to put in my "little ship".
For example, I have a working engine order telegraph, a WWII system of
battle phones, a helmsman's helper, a telltale compass (installed over
the master's bunk as usual and identical to the one on the Cutty Sark),
an early 20th century binnacle with quadrantal balls and a Flinders tube
(which I would love to know how to use if anyone can help) up on the
bridge deck, a radio direction finder, taffrail logs, and many other
items onboard(not to mention the sextants, of course).

I have established (in cooperation with the Harbour authorities) on
board my boat an Academy of Nautical Navigation, a non-profit
organisation that provides navigation training and practice at no fee.
We use the saloon of my trawler (it is quite spacious) for small group
seminars and then go out into the channel to practice taking sights and
working other techniques.  Of course, we also use modern tools like GPS,
radar, and sonar as well.  I have found that there are occasionally
visitors to Santa Barbara that want to have a little bit of an
educational and historical nautical experience while they are here
enjoying the natural beauty.  So my collections of nautical books come
in quite handy!

I hope this was of some interest.  Sorry for the length.

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: Navigation Mailing List
[mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM] On Behalf Of George
Huxtable
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2004 1:35 AM
To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERVWEBKAHUNA.COM
Subject: Buying secondhand maritime books. Was: How was GMT originally
established ?

Bill Allen wrote, referring to "The Marine Chronometer" by Rupert Gould-

> I tried to searched Abebooks (I think I did it properly), but I
>will try it again and periodically in the future.

and-

>By the way, I purchased the Andrewes book on the lunar symposium (that
>you mentioned).  It looks fantastic -- thank you for that insight.

This was   "The Quest for Longitude", ed, William J H Andrewes, Harvard,
1996. I would be interested to know how much Bill had to pay for his
copy,
if he doesn't mind telling.

===============

Buying secondhand maritime books.

I am something of a book-freak, the problem being that there's now
little
free wall-space left at home, to put more bookshelves against. Books are
bought for their content, not as a "collector" looking for increasing
value; so I don't mind them being a bit grubby as long as they are
intact.
If an old book is really falling apart, it will then be cheap to buy,
which
might make a rebind, or retightening, worthwhile. Within reach of
Oxford,
there are many local bookbinders, as you might expect.

I am a denizen of secondhand bookshops, at which you can sometimes find
remarkable bargains in maritime books. For example, I 've found in a
local
shop a copy of Norie's Navigation of 1900 for £2 (about $3). This is the
combined volume, text and tables, of over 1000 pages (they were often
sold
split). The interesting aspect of this edition is that the tables
relating
to clearing lunars had not yet been culled.

Being a regular customer, I get catalogues posted to me from several
maritime bookdealers in the UK. Of course, having been sorted and listed
by
a specialist, they are no longer cheap.

But my book searching isn't confined to the UK, and I often find stuff
at a
lower price in the US or Canada, which compensates for the shipping
cost.

Mostly, I use www.abebooks.com to find my books, and this has worked
well,
so far. You search by author and title, and if lucky come up with a list
of
several booksellers who have it in stock. If you use "advanced search",
you
can specify what country or countries the seller must be in, if you
wish,
and specify cheapest-first in that listing. Prices are always quoted in
$US-equivalent, but of course you have to pay in the seller's local
currency.

One problem is that you sometimes find that the book has already been
sold,
but the dealer has been slow to remove it from the abebooks
"shop-window".

Having found your book at a dealer, you can click on that dealer to find
his details, and do the rest directly with him, by phone or email, which
is
what I always do.

Alternatively, abebooks offers the opportunity to buy directly through
them. In that case they will charge a 10% commission to the dealer, so
the
prices he lists on abebooks will have already been boosted by 10%. I
don't
buy that way.

If you are buying directly from a dealer, you can use that as an
argument
to ask for a 10% discount on the price he has listed on abebooks, and
will
often succeed.

When buying "blind" like this, I have found the book-trade to be
generally
honest and to describe the condition of the books on offer fairly. I
usually pay by credit-card, but a few small US dealers ask for cash.
They
are usually happy to hold the book for a week or so, long enough to
acquire
the necessary dollar-bills and post them off. This might seem risky, but
it
appears to work.

I understand that amazon books also offers a second-hand service, but
charges dealers a 20% commission.

It would be interesting to learn about the experiences of other maritime
bookworms, with any hints and tips.

George.

================================================================
contact George Huxtable by email at george@huxtable.u-net.com, by phone
at
01865 820222 (from outside UK, +44 1865 820222), or by mail at 1 Sandy
Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
================================================================