[Paddlewise] Stephens's "Canoe and Boat Building"

While doing some research on the internet prior to purchasing a canoe, I kept coming across references to a book by W. P. Stephens called Canoe and Boat Building for Amateurs, which was published before the turn of the century.  

For some reason, this sounded kind of familiar to me, and to make a long story short, it turns out that I have a copy of this book.  I purchased it on a whim, really, at a thrift store maybe ten years ago.  I put it up on the bookshelf and forgot about it.

The references to this book that I've seen on the internet all refer to either the 1889 edition or the 1891 edition.  The one I have is from 1885, with a copyright date of 1884.  So I'm assuming that the one I have is either a first or second edition.  I haven't seen any references at all to this edition -- only to the 1889 or '91 editions.  The book itself is in very good or excellent condition, given that it's over 100 years old.  

Since I barely know which end of the screwdriver to hold on to, it is unlikely that I will ever build a canoe.  It seems a shame  to have a book like this imprisoned on the bookshelf on one so inept, and so I would be interested in finding an organization or club that might actually use the book.  I'm not really interested in giving it to some library that already has 50 copies of the book, but rather, maybe some place that doesn't have a copy of this book, or some organization that would actually use it in building a canoe.

I'm not at all in touch with the boat-building community, and so I would appreciate any leads you could give me.  Please help me find this book a good home.  I'm not much interested in selling it for money, and don't even know what it might be worth.  I paid ten cents for it.

jim holman
holmanj_at_ohsu.edu 
Portland, Oregon 


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