Encyclopedia Of Knots and Fancy Rope Work’ by Raoul Graumont and John Hensel
Originally published 1939; reprinted by Cornell Maritime Press (1982) ISBN 9780870330216
Simple knots and complicated marlinespike work, both practical and decorative, canvas stitching, wire splicing, mat-making and macramé, are all in this classic 690-page book. Over 3,600 knots in 350 full page photographic plates and a few drawings. The lure and lore of knotting is also there, from Longfellow’s poem ‘The Ropewalk’ to the Roman name for a reef knot. But this is a 6th. printing of the 4th. edition of a revised and enlarged version of the original 1939 publication, so the contents are now curiously old-fashioned. Many knots(wo)men cannot work out the ill-defined photographs. Written clarification is often inadequate. Knot names are sometimes unorthodox and some subjects are omitted. The 23-page index is notoriously difficult to use. It contains no recent developments. So this is not the book for anyone hoping to learn to tie knots. The ‘Ashley Book of Knots’ with its meticulous step-by-step drawings and detailed instructions is much superior; and there are many good cheaper books. However - as stated on the dust jacket - it is “ . . .a museum of a book”, the combined personal collections of two men, both of whom sailed in merchant ships, and a magnificent effort. No knotting enthusiast who can afford the hefty price should be without this weighty tome. Knotcraftsman Bernard Cutbush told me recently he much preferred this book to ‘Ashley’ because it gave him more ideas. Beneath the dust-jacket the publishers have retained on the hard cover the 1939 imprint of a mariner’s wheel tied in cord - a nice detail to find these days.