The Shellback's Library A cautionary tale or a search for a productive contact for this vendor

[Jaager]

I can across this site doing a search for an out of print book

The Shellback's Library
There are over 1,300 reprint nautical publications here. Chart your course thru our site.

We are a small reprint publishing house established in 1998. We offer thousands of books and publications.

Our products are one of three types; bound books, bookleted boat plans or data sheets. Unlike many vendors, we have carefully researched our nautical products and so we can provide a description, often with pictures, of each craft or subject. 

contact D.N.Goodchild   phone number is southeast corner of Pennsylvania

 

Lots of interesting titles - but one filled a hole in by library

 

I figured  that it was worth a $40 risk for a 1670 book with the sizes of spars and rigging.

 

I ordered the book - paid using PatPal - the money was deducted from my account.  No further communication from the vendor.   No email, no book.

I initiated an inquiry thru PayPal and after time and hoop jumping - but no response from the vendor - I received a full refund today.

 

 

 

The book:

Hardcover Elephant Folio

THE BOATSWAIN'S ART, or THE COMPLETE BOATSWAIN
by >Henry Bond, Teacher of Navigation, Surveying, and other parts of the Mathematicks, near Ratcliff-Cross.  The Scale is made in Brass or Wood by Joseph Hone on Tower-Wharf.
Wherin is shewed a true Proportion for the Masting, Yarding,a nd Rigging of any Ship, whose Length, Breadth, and Depth is known: with Rules for the Sizes and Lengths of all sorts of Rigging that belongs to any Ship. Also the use of an opening Scale, that if the length of the Main Mast be put upon it with a pair of Compasses, you may measure upon the Scale the Lengths and Thickness of all the other Masts and Yards; and also the Sizes, the Lengths and the number of Fathoms of every Size for the Rigging of any Ship, without altering the Scale. Also here is added a Plain and Easie Rule for Rigging andy Ship by the Length of its own Masts and Yards. London, Printed by W. Godbid, for William Fisher at the Postern-Gate near Tower-Hill, and Benjamin Hurlock over against St. Magnus-Church on London-Bridge near Thmes-Street. 1670
So goes the title page for this substantive and influential early work on ship-building, rigging and management, originally published in1670. Our reprint retains the type style and form of the original and is completely reset in that style, with the exception of the extender "s'ses", e.g., (from above) "Wherein is fhewed a true Proportion for the Mafting, Yarding, and Rigging of any Ship, whofe . . . etc." All other seventeenth century attributes and spelling are retained however. An example of the original title page and that of our reprint is shown below. Included in the compilation are "A Plain and Easie Rule" (1676) as mentioned above and also "The Sizes and Lengths of Rigging for all His Majesties Ships and Frigats." (1660)

Henry Bond, Wm. Fisher & Edward Hayward, 105 pages

 

 

 

SOME OTHER TITLES OF varying relivance

 Square Rig

MARINE ... Diderot's Maritime Volume from the great Encyclopedia of he an d'Alembert. (Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century)
Dideriot and D'Alembert,  100 pages,  Pub No. 0052

MASTING; MASTMAKING; AND RIGGING OF SHIPS ... also Tables of Spars, Rigging, Blocks, Chain, Wire and Hemp Ropes, etc., relative to every class of vessel.
Robert Kipping,  236 pages,  Pub No. 0054

SEAMAN'S FRIEND, THE ... A Treatise on Practical Seamanship; A Dictionary of Sea Terms; Customs and Usages of the Merchant Service; and Laws.
Richard Henry Dana,  275 pages,  Pub No. 0055

STEEL'S ELEMENTS OF MAST-MAKING; SAIL-MAKING . . ... A "must-have" text for the serious modeler and anyone with a ship-of-the-line or a frigate.
Claude S. Gill,  300 pages,  Pub No. 0056

YOUNG SEA OFFICER'S SHEET ANCHOR, THE ... The first real seaman's manual.
d Arcy Lever,  255 pages,  Pub No. 0057

KEDGE ANCHOR OR YOUNG SAILOR'S ASSISTANT, THE ... Appertaining to the Practical Evolutions of Modern Seamanship, Rigging, Knotting, Splicing, Blocs, Purchases, Running-Rigging
William Brady,  400 pages,  Pub No. 0096

OLD WOODEN WALLS, THE ... Their construction, equipment, etc. Being an abridged edition of the Falconer's celebrated Marine Dictionary.
Claude S. Gill,  202 pages,  Pub No. 0282

BOATSWAIN'S ART, OR COMPLETE BOATSWAIN, THE ... Rigging ships in 1670 -" the masting, yarding and rigging of any ship whose length, breadth and depth is known."
Henry Bond, Wm. Fisher & Edward Hayward,  105 pages,  Pub No. 0284

COMPLETE SHIPWRIGHT, THE ... "Plainly & demonstratively teaching the proportions used by experienced shipwrights according to their custom of building."
Edmund Bushnell,  76 pages,  Pub No. 0285

 

NOSE AGAINST THE GLASS IS FRUSTRATING!

Are we dealing with another Norwegian Blue Parrot here?

[Roger Pellett]

I Purchased  book from probably 10 years ago and had no problem so they have been in business for quite a while.

 

Roger

[Bob Cleek]

Check this site: http://www.dngoodchild.com/

 

David Goodchild operates The Press at Toad Hall, part of which is The Shellbacks Library. I made David's acquaintance perhaps twenty-five years ago. His publications are beautifully done reprints of out-of-print works. The Shellbacks Library contains his maritime offerings, including many books on ship modeling. David's website went down a few years ago and I heard several reports of orders not being shipped. It later turned out he was reportedly very ill for some time. He reappeared last year with a refreshed and expanded website and appears to be back at it. Perhaps you can connect with him through his main portal above. Keep in mind that with the pandemic right now, shipping has become quite a bit slower than before. Within the US, there are fewer planes in the air and the carriers are shipping by truck. What used to take two or three days to get is now taking two or three weeks sometimes. David's a very nice fellow and very knowledgeable when it comes to maritime books. I do hope he's well.

[Jaager]

38 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

What used to take two or three days to get is now taking two or three weeks sometimes.

 

Bob,

Thank you for the information.  This is what I hoped would happen with this post.

 

( unnecessary editorial comment:)

[ I know or have experienced that Seawatch does not do email acknowledgement for orders placed or reassurance via email, but they do respond to email and do fill orders.  I just wish that they would get better at patting us on the hand. ]

 

With Shellback , there was nothing - except the PayPal message about the deduction. That was on 3/20.  Dead air.  I sent an email on 4/4: more dead air.  I contacted PayPal on 4/14 - they said to email the vendor, I did: dead air.  PayPal took over on 4/30, when I escalated - because they said I was SOL if I did not do that before 5/4.  They must have gotten no response either because. I got a full refund on 5/20.   I fear that your hope is a forlorn one.  I will try your link, because I do want the book.

[Bob Cleek]

Beyond what I said above, I've got no more information on David Goodchild. These days, I have to remind myself more and more frequently that people I've known for years are getting older, too. A lot of them were older than I in the first place. "Whatever happened to Charlie?... Oh, he died a couple of years ago." is sadly a common experience for me these days. The last time he "dropped off the radar" a few years ago, some of us who had done business with him over the years were hoping somebody would take over his business. I think it's pretty much a "one man show," but his catalog was amazing and from all indications was always thriving. 

 

Also, I believe he did not maintain any inventory of printed books, but rather produced each reprint on demand as it was ordered. I'm not sure how what technology he used, but his books were not photocopies of the original, but rather separately typeset bound volumes. The process was that an order would come in and he'd have the copy printed and bound and then sent out. I'm not positive, but I don't think he was doing the printing in house. It's also entirely possible that the local pandemic restrictions shut down his printing operation. He lives, or used to live, in the suburbs of Philadelphia, as I recall. I don't know what the pandemic situation is there right now. Like a lot of businesses, he may simply be shut down due to the pandemic. Your order would have been right around the time the "lock downs" started and it may have been stuck in the pipeline.

 

If it's any consolation, The David Goodchild I know would never take somebody's money and skip out. There's got to be an explanation there somewhere.

[Jaager]

On 5/21/2020 at 3:27 PM, Bob Cleek said:

If it's any consolation, The David Goodchild I know would never take somebody's money and skip out. There's got to be an explanation there somewhere.

I just got an email.   It was the Covid shutdown.

 

The message:

GOOD NEWS! The city-ordered shut-down is over. We are able to get back to printing and binding our book orders. When the city shut us down as a non-essential business in the Covid 19 Pandemic we had just begun to outfit our new space with updated machinery and work spaces. That came to a sudden halt and we were forced to rely on our kitchen counter to produce our boat building and design booklets. These conditions are obviously ;not practical for printing and binding hard-cover books. However, at the end of July we were able to re-enter the space and yesterday we started up the book production side of our business once again. It will take a little while to get up to speed but we are now producing books to fulfill the backlog that has resulted from the closure.

We are happy to confirm that your order will be completed in the order in which it was received. Many thanks indeed for your patience and understanding.

 

Now, I have to see if I can do a re-order since I got a refund from PayPal.   A charge back from a credit card company is costly for a vendor and it tends to ....annoy... them.

[Bob Cleek]

I'm glad to hear the news! David is a really great guy and his catalog is a real treasure. Now that I know he's up and running, I'll have to take a look at what I might want to treat myself to next. He has classic books that aren't obtainable anywhere else at extremely reasonable prices. These aren't cheapo photostatic copies. They are real books. Check it out: http://www.dngoodchild.com/

[RichardG]

You guys keep finding places for me to spend money.

 

But still thanks for the link. I'd really like a copy of Steel's Mastmaking and Rigging. At $65 it looks like an excellent buy. Unfortunately I only get one birthday a year and I've already ordered my birthday book for this year.

[Bob Cleek]

I have a copy of Steele's Elements and it's on line for free, as well. (It may even be on the MSW "more" section of the forum.) My copy is rather small, as I recall. (I haven't looked at it in a while and I've got a rather large library and an ever-smaller memory!) It's definitely worth buying. David's edition may be an "elephant folio" (large size pages), though. that would be nice for seeing the detail.

 

I'm lusting after David's editions of C.P. Kunhardt and Dixon Kemp's classics. These are never around on the used market and when a rare one comes up, it's super expensive. There are several reprints that have been published, but all of these are only excerpts of the original, not the entire original volume. Only Shellback's Library has the "real deal." 

 

If you are inclined to scratch building and particularly building small craft and yachts, The Shellback's Library has lots and lots of books full of plans of such boats.

[Mike05]

Site seems to be down again and no way of making contact. Anybody have information? Is the city shut-down again?

[Walton]

It's been a few years since I've seen the dngoodchild site up and running.  Still has an x and youtube channels up, but no response contacting.

Anyone have an update on the status of the Press at Toad Hall or David Goodchild himself?

Seems we lost a few things post Covid lock down.

[wefalck]

Aren’t many of such titles now available as free digitalisations?