The Line of Battle, The Sailing Warship 1650 - 1810, Robert Gardiner

[Bob Fraser]

Edited by Robert Gardiner with consultant editor Brian Lavery. Published 1992, reprint 1993 and 1994 (My copy) Priced at £28 when printed, Amazon today new at £30.

With contributions by writers the editor, Lavery and Marquardt, he book brings together a general history of ships that sailed both in and out of the "line of battle" with each chapter is written by a different person  on varying types of ships over the time period.

There are also chapters on construction and fitting, again each written by someone knowledgable in that area.

Based around the Royal Navy it does ave passing mentions to other nations particularly where their designs influence British ones.

The chapters are specific to what they are titled, each giving an overall picture of the subject through the time period.

The photographs are black and white, and there are many drawings and plans included to illustrate each subject.

Being general it doesn't go into great detail on each subject, but covers it deep enough to pique your interest into looking deeper with the books listed in the bibliography (seperate ones for each chapter).  Written 30 years ago it doesn't have references to any of the more recent books on specific subject matter that contain newer or different updated information.

It is an easy to read large format book that if you look around can be found at reasonable price point second hand, and I believe worth adding for general reference with leads to more specific resources.