The Dory Book

Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport Museum Inc, 1987. Assumed First Edition . Trade Paperback. Fine. 8 1/2" X 11. Manning, Samuel F.. 275 Pages Indexed. A comprehensive book about dories, their history and 23 designs with full construction details. Included are 153 illustrations, 23 plan sets, and index. The Maine Coast Fisherman's affair with the dory started back in June, 1951, when it printed a modest little article I had written about the Hammond dory. The piece was short, a beginner's effort, but it did provide some useful building information including a set of lines carefully drawn to scale. This was the first time, I believe, that lines for a small, round-sided, pulling dory of the Swampscott type had appeared in print. Perhaps it was these lines, freely offered, or the builder's approach to the subject that appealed to the readers. In any case, this maiden effort struck a spark of interest. Readers wrote in, and they have been writing ever since. Not just about that first Hammond dory, of course, but about all the dories since. During the last twenty-five years, a long line of my articles on how to build dories of various sorts and sizes has passed across the pages of the Fisherman.