THE DEFINITIVE CHRONICLE OF SEAFARING’S TWILIGHT

Lubbock, Basil (1876–1944)

The Last of the Windjammers [Two-Volume Set with Fold-Out Plans]

Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd., 1949.
The monumental, two-volume climax to Lubbock’s lifelong documentation of the world’s final commercial sailing fleets. Spanning the golden era of the tall ships through their eventual displacement by steam, this work functions as an unmatched statistical and narrative encyclopedia. This set retains its complete array of complex, large-scale fold-out ship designs, making it an essential acquisition for traditional naval architects and maritime scholars.

FEATURES
+++ Visuals: Extensively illustrated with full-page photographic plates, detailed hull diagrams, and multiple large, crisp fold-out technical ship plans, alongside cartographic map endpapers. 
+++ Binding: Matching publisher's blue cloth with stamped gilt titles on spines. 
+++ Content: Deep historical narratives of individual vessels, speed records, builder specifications, crew registers, and extensive general indexes across both volumes. 
+++ Imprint: Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd., Nautical Publications, Glasgow.  Reprint edition.
+++ Specs: 9.5 x 7.25 inches; large octavo / small quarto format.

CONDITION: Very Good. The bindings are tight and square, fully supporting the significant weight and thickness of this comprehensive two-volume text block. The internal pages are clean, bright, and free of markings, displaying only light, even age-toning typical of mid-century nautical reference stocks. The large fold-out technical plans are present, properly folded, and free of mis-handling tears. The blue cloth boards exhibit minimal shelf handling wear and light rubbing to the corner extremities. Dust jackets are not present.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE —
Basil Lubbock’s legacy as the premier historian of the merchant service rests securely on this multi-volume masterpiece. Written at a time when the last surviving windjammers were actively being sold for scrap or converted into stationary barges, his work was fueled by an urgent, preservationist panic.

This specific two-volume set covers the full spectrum of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century deepwater sail, including the grain racers, the timber droghers, and the coal hulks. Published by Brown, Son & Ferguson in Glasgow—the heart of the British shipbuilding empire—the volumes provide an insider account of the corporate, human, and mechanical realities of a lost maritime epoch.

SCHOLARLY FEATURES
+++ Historical Impact: Widely acknowledged as the ultimate, comprehensive census of the final generation of square-rigged merchant ships, capturing operational data that would have otherwise vanished during the mid-20th century.
+++ Technical Utility: Invaluable for naval historians due to the unaltered inclusion of primary engineering blueprints and lines plans, which are frequently extracted or damaged in surviving sets.
+++ Design: The large-format page layout is consciously scaled to preserve the legibility of minuscule logbook entries and expansive architectural schematics.

SUBJECTS: Maritime History, Windjammers, Tall Ships, Naval Architecture, Merchant Marine, Ship Plans, Glasgow Printing, Nautical History, Technical Reference, Reference Work.

Item #22104

Price: $95.00