A heavily amended duplicate typescript manuscript of an unpublished reference work, 'The Sea, Ships and Men'
Brisbane, The Author, 1963.
Quarto, two volumes, containing [viii], 769 pages (rectos only).
Modern quarter-contrasting binder's cloth with a contrasting title-label on each spine; paper a little unevenly tanned, with the edges tending to be brittle (and now occasionally chipped); overall, in excellent condition.
Captain Frederick Cecil Rhodes (1877-1964) was an Australian master mariner, journalist, author and cotton farming lobbyist. If he is known at all these days, it is as the author of 'Pageant of the Pacific', a two-volume maritime history of Australasia, published in the mid-1930s. His lengthy entry in Wikipedia makes interesting reading, and he deserves to be remembered. The acknowledgements at the beginning of this extensively amended and annotated manuscript included the following comments: 'This book is a work of reference, but I would not like it to be regarded as a believe-it-or-not of the sea. I have assembled what I believe are facts, so I suppose the product cannot be regarded as research. I engaged myself many years ago to bring between covers some of the, to me, fascinating material about the sea, ships, and men that lies scattered in books, and in the minds of men. This material comes to light from the latter on request, or challenge. I hope that I have preserved objectivity'. These acknowledgements are signed in ink 'F.C. Rhodes, Brisbane, Australia, 1963'; his death in May the following year, aged 87, may go a long way to explaining why this manuscript is, for all intents and purposes, unrecorded. [2 items].
Item #116574
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