Nos. 585, 586, 587 & 588. Specification of four steel twin screw steamers

[Whiteinch, Glasgow] [Barclay Curle & Coy Ltd. Clydeholm]. n.d..

A curious book. It is an amended copy of "No 1104. Specification of a steel twin screw steamer to be built for the British India Steam Navigation Co., Limited" published by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson. Not only has the title page been altered but so has the title information on the front cover. The text of the original book is a detailed description of the steel twin screw steamer in question. Interleaved with the printed text are blank lined leaves from a notebook. On many of these are handwritten notes and amendments in red and black ink. There are also manuscript amendments to the printed text. 202x125mm. pp. 104 with the same number of interleaved pages.
Whether this was done by the printers who wanted a short-cut method of producing a printed description of some similar ships for another shipyard or whether Barclay Curle was "borrowing" the work of Swan Hunter is unclear. But it is an interesting object and the description of the ship/ships being built for the British India Steam Navigation Company is very detailed. A wonderful relic from the days when Scotland was the Workshop of the British Empire.