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Good. Volume 1. Dust jacket is covered in brodart plastic. Edges shows light shelf wear. Pages are clean and intact. Very Clean Copy-Over 500, 000 Internet Orders Filled.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Very Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. Volume 1. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.
Arnold Kludas is a German National Treasure. On maritime matters, specifically ocean liners he is one of only a handful of international experts on the subject. These experts include men like N.R.P. Bonsor and John Maxtone-Grahm of Britain, Frank O. Braynard, William H. Miller and John Malcolm Brinnin of the U.S. and Peter Newell of Australia along with just a few others. These guys know more, and fortunately have shared more of what they know, than anyone ever has on this or possibly any other subject. The Ocean Liner is well covered?but you have to know where to look. In the case of Mr. Kludas; who has written over 40 books on the subject of the world's ocean going passenger vessels, a six volume set covering thousands of ships over a span of 130 years is just another day at the office! Great Passenger Ships of the World is an encyclopedia of every ocean going passenger ship of more than 10,000 gross registered tons which has ever been launched (which is like saying all cars Volkswagen Beatle sized or larger which have ever traveled the world?s roads...it covers just about everything that matters). The result is this truly amazing, detailed and indispensably useful, 6 volume resource which places an infinite and diverse assemblage of the worlds shipping (Liners from many countries and many companies over a long span of time) squarely in the palms of your hands! If I were going to lodge any criticism of the work....and believe me it is hard to do...it would probably be that the 10,000 GRT (tonnage limit) which works so well for ships after the dawn of the 20th century results in the exclusion of so many of the most important ships of the 19th century that it is detrimental to the end result. In my opinion some type of curved gradient (a grading curve) should be employed in order that the truest overview of important vessels is captured and the record is made more complete. Additionally it is my opinion this mandatory and ?broad brush? approach?.this blanket 10,000 GRT ?cut-of? without regard for time-frame? results in a piece of work that is ultimately deficient and untrue to its own character. The reasons for this become obvious when one considers that many, indeed most, of that century?s great and famous ships are not present in the Kludas work. In fact only about two dozen 19th century ships are presented (and only three ships in total represent the state of things prior to the 1890s)?That?s all?.There are no ships from the 1840s, Only Brunel?s ?freak behemoth? Great Eastern during the entire decade of the1850s, nothing at all from the 1860s, nothing at all from the 1870s (The decade that saw the introduction of the ?Modern? Liner); and only two late ?80s Inman Liners during the whole of that important decade?..that degree of exclusion just doesn?t seem right! My grading system would look something like this????.. TIME FRAME SHIPS MUST BE AT LEAST 1840-1849 1,000 grt and up 1850-1859 2,000 grt and up 1860-1869 3,000 grt.and up 1870-1879 4,000 grt and up 1880-1889 5,000 grt and up 1890-1899 6,000 grt and up 1900 and beyond ...the existing 10,000 grt and up! So you ask?..why the jump from 6,000 to 10,000 tons in a single decade? You wonder how it could be fair that a 6,000 ton ship built in 1899 makes the list but one built a year later?.maybe with only a few months difference between them?. A ship of 9,999 tons fails to make the cut!
Ok this may well be a flaw?..but it is one I can easily live with. Here?s why?By 1900 ships began to grow in size by an order of magnitude?????I can tell you that after 1900 nothing short of 10,000 tons made much of a splash (pun intended). To extend the illustration?.after 1900 anything less than 10,000 tons was not much better than a bath tub toy! This method may be somewhat arbitrary, is perhaps capricious and is certainly subjective but no more so than the original work and the original notion of a 10,000 GRT ?cut-off?. The difference is that this approach is complete, inclusive and ultimately useful. Such a change would add approximately 280 previously excluded ships to the work and in the process make it - remarkably - even better than it already is!
A+ for the six volume set as it stands but Great Passenger Ships of the World begs for a prequel !
