SAILOR'S WORD BOOK - Tapa blanda

First published in 1867, the Sailor's Word-Book is an incomparable alphabetical digest of nautical terms - some 14,000 in all. It defines a huge range of common and rare words, some of which, though now antiquated or obsolete, nevertheless appear regularly in contemporary works, because it remains one of the principal sources for many of the foremost writers of maritime non-fiction and fiction of our times. As well as de facto terms dealing with every aspect of ships and the sea - encompassing warships, merchant vessels, small craft, seamanship, navigation, meteorology, naval architecture, ship construction and fittings - the author also included 'galley slang', relevant natural history terms and even birds and fishes that were considered good eating. Not least of the pleasures of this book is the author's characteristic manner, which is as pithy and direct as the idiom itself. Much more than a period piece, this new edition is an invaluable tool for maritime historians, model-makers, sailors and indeed anyone with an interest in the maritime world.

William Henry Smyth (1788-1865) devoted most of his naval career to surveying, and the results, often carried out in collaboration with French, Austrian and Neapolitan surveyors, were highly acclaimed. He was a Fellow and, later, President (1849-51) of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1858 he began to assemble the Sailor's Word-Book from material amassed during his long career. Although he completed the work, he died before he saw its publication.