[Book of Photographs and Identifications of Knots].; Textiles

N,P, 1940. Very good. 9 7/8” x 6 7/8”. String-tied portfolio, thin card wrappers with 7 linen-backed B&W photographs measuring 9 3/8” x 6” and 7 thin leaves of typescript captions, rectos only. Pp. [14] + two duplicate photos laid in. Very good: wrappers chipped in a few spots with two small tears; edgewear to blank endpaper leaves; first photo a bit scuffed; light spotting to versos.

This is an unusual survival, a handmade identification book revealing the proper tying of knots.

The book holds seven photographs of ropes maneuvered into knots and hitches, braids and bands, 100 different ties in all. There are numbers placed next to each knot in the photos, and a corresponding identification list follows each shot. The work ranges from the seemingly simple to the confoundingly complex, including the recognizable “Hangman's knot” as well as names like “Monkey fist,” “Turks head,” “Spanish crown,” the “Mexican cowboy knot” and the “Tapered lariat splice.” Duplicates of the last two photos in the book were laid in at the rear.

In our attempt to pinpoint the origins of this book, we found a YouTube clip of a United States Navy instructional video, “Useful Knots,” made during World War II. We imagine that the book may have been created with a similar purpose, but that is purely conjecture. In any case, a nice collection of photographs of impressive (and useful) knots.