by Maynard Bray, Benjamin Mendlowitz, Claas Van Der Linde, Kurt Hasselbalch

This handsome, large format, 288-page, full-colour book features the finest examples of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company’s boats, along with 200 of the most sumptuous maritime photographs ever put to paper by the renowned nautical photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz who often uses the early or late light to show off the warmth of the wood. And this is not your normal coffee table book despite the size – being 42(w) by 29(d) cm – there are no less than 75 original Herreshoff construction drawings from the Hart Nautical Collection at the MIT Museum. And we are treated to commentary on the design evolution of this marque in every facet from lines to displacement through to hardware items (of which Herreshoff invented many.) The insightful writing of Maynard Bray helped by Claas Van Der Linde‘s extraordinary ten-year cataloguing of the the 2,200 watercraft built in Bristol, Rhode Island by the Herreshoffs (his work-in-progress website only went public in 2017 and can be found HERE), and the introduction by MIT’s veteran curator Kurt Hasselbalch have created the most comprehensive and inspirational book to date on this famous family of Rhode Island Bristol boatbuilders. And that’s a wow from us!
If you have a Herreshoff yacht then this is a vital book. If you don’t, then reading this will probably inspire you to find one.
Published by: W. W. Norton & Company, June 2017, 272pp, around £54
Via John Wiley & Sons Ltd in UK