KNOTS, TIES AND SPLICES: A handbook for seafarers, travellers and all who use cordage, with historical, heraldic and practical notes. By J. Tom Burgess.

ND (1884) 1st edition. Small 8vo (125 x 187mm). Ppviii,101. B/w engravings of knots. Dark blue polished cloth, upper board and spine titled in gilt.

"A handbook for seafarers, travellers and all who use cordage, with historical, heraldic and practical notes." A well-illustrated manual of knots for the practical longshore man. Chapters include: The uses of knots; The history and philosophy of knots; Heraldic knots; Cordage and its varities; Simple knots and loops; Shortenings; Knots for uniting ropes; Splices; Other modes of uniting ropes; Ties; Moorings and ring knots; Hitches and bends; Fastenings and lashings; The ends of ropes; Knots and their application; A knot alphabet. This handbook is most commonly known to the public in its later editions, revised and re-written by Commander J. Irving, who cleaned the text up and added a fair amount of material on handling wire ropes and cables. This undated first edition is the work of Burgess alone.