This is unquestionably the greatest book on knots and rope work ever published, yet it is a valuable reference for anyone from eight to eighty. First published in 1939, it quickly became and has remained for more than a half century the classic in its field. Here, every step in tying knots from the simplest to the most complicated will be found, clearly pictured and fully explained in the accompanying text. Here, also, the fascinating stories behind the origins of hundreds of these knots are retold. With the superstitions, the lore, the historic, heraldic, or religious backgrounds associated with them. This monumental work describes 3,668 knots, illustrating them in nearly 350 full page photographic plates and drawings. Even a cursory examination of the book will reveal why the critics hailed its appearance as "the Alpha and Omega of the subject," a museum in book form." ABOUT AUTHORS: Raoul Graumont and John Hensel, both seamen, learned knot work aboard ship and in the hundreds of foreign ports to which their ship carried them. Graumont, born in Algiers, the son of a cavalry colonel in a French colonial regiment, began his maritime apprenticeship at the age of 13 on one of the last great French sailing vessels, the five-masted barque France. He later served in the French Army for eight years until his discharges in 1922. He was a Texas cowpuncher, a Montana lumberjack, a rigger in Washington and Oregon, and mushed dog teams in Alaska. Of Danish descent, John Hensel was born in New York City. He spent a number of years at sea, beginning at the age of 17 when he signed on as ordinary seaman aboard a Canadian freighter out of Baltimore. One of the world's foremost authorities on knotting, Mr. Hensel is also the author of The Book of Ornamental Knots. The two authors met at an exhibition of Graumont's work in the early 1930's decided to pool their collections of knots and rope lore, and collaborated on what became the Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Rope Work.