The Royal Navy, by Wm. Laird Clowes, a history of England’s Navy from the earliest times to the present, will appear in five royal 8vo volumes, with 25 photogravures and many full page and other illustrations, maps, charts, etc.; published by Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Limited, London.
Volume I., from the beginning to 1603, is nearly ready; it will extend over 700 pages. The remaining volumes will appear at intervals of about six months. Each volume will be complete in itself, with an index.
Mr. Clowes is assisted by Sir Clement Markham, K. C. B., P. R. G. S., Captain A. T. Mahan, U. S. Navy, Mr. H. W. Wilson, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, Mr. E. Fraser and others.
Captain Mahan is preparing the campaign of the American Revolution, and Mr. Roosevelt that of the War of 1812 to 1815. The co-operation of American and English writers in the preparation of this work must commend itself to all students of history, establishing the fact that the historical verdict of both parties is substantially the same.
Almanach für die K. u. K. Kriegs-Marine, 1897, Redaction der “ Mittheilungen aus dem Gebiete des Seewesens,” Pola. Price 4 Mark, 20 Pf.
This Marine Almanach replaces the former annual by the same publishers, viz., Almanach der Kriegsflotten, and it has become a more voluminous edition, the present number containing 485 pages, with 192 plates of battle-ships. Part I. is devoted to tables of weights, measures, and reductions from metric to English measures. Part II. contains tabular statistics of the Austrian Merchant Marine, with complete lists of merchant steamers. Part III. is devoted to the Imperial Yacht Club, containing lists of members and of the yachts. Part IV. contains interesting data on the pay in the Imperial Austrian Navy, regulations concerning pay of the personnel while on active service, on various detached service, pensions, pilot fees, regulations governing admission into the Naval Academy, medical corps, pay corps, etc. Part V. tabulates the data for naval ordnance of all nations. Part VI. contains the navy lists of the world, concluding with a comparative table showing the relative strength of the navies in battle-ships, cruisers, torpedo-boats and submarine boats. The fund of useful information contained in this handy pocket annual recommends it, irrespective of the fact that it is the product of the editorial office of the Mittheilungen aus dem Gebiete des Seewesens, a longstanding authority on naval matters.
The 10th Annual of Aide-Mémoire de l’Officier de Marine, 1897, by Edouard Durassier, continued by Charles Valentino, published by Henri Charles Lavauzelle, Paris, continues its high standard as a book of reference on naval matters.
As heretofore, the book opens with a comparative table of the modern navies of the world, followed by a recapitulation of naval events of the different nations during the past year. Besides the notes on international law, personnel, vessels, artillery, torpedoes, submarine cables, and various reduction tables, there have been added in this edition tables showing the distances of the French naval and military ports from the principal ports of the world, also the principal formulae in geometry and trigonometry.
The book appears in its usual genteel form, with no increase in the moderate price of 5 francs.
The Naval Pocket-Book, 1897, by W. Laird Clowes, published by Neville Beeman, Ltd., London, is the second issue of the handy pocket reference book, the first issue of which last year was hailed with pleasure as filling a long-needed work of this kind in the English language.
This volume is somewhat larger than last year’s issue, due to the introduction of numerous additional plans of ships and the admission of fresh matter.
As stated in the preface, an effort has been made, as before, to present in a manner favorable for reference and comparison the statistics of the various navies; and, with this end in view, while the official classification of vessels has been retained, a secondary classification, based upon power, size, speed and newness, has been introduced.
As a result of this secondary classification throughout the work, ships of approximately equal fighting value may be recognized at a glance on reference to the letters A, B, C, D., etc., under which they are ranked.
After the classified list of navies follow a summary of ships of the more important classes belonging to leading navies; notes on guns and small arms, on torpedoes, on naval personnel and comparative rank; lists and particulars of dry docks; miscellaneous tables of weights and measures and their conversion from metric into' English system or reverse; concluding with trial-trip tables. H. G. D.