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| Blocks and pulleys onVietnamese sailboats. From Sailboats of Indochina (Voiliers d'Indochine) by J. B. Piétri. |
Thanks to a contributor who wishes to remain anonymous, I'm delighted to present two more works on the boats of Vietnam for free download: Sailboats of Indochina by J. B. Piétri, and Bateaux en Indochine by Jean Poujade. They join a page of other free downloads of books on Chinese and Southeast Asian watercraft.
Piétri was a fisheries officer for the French colonial government in Indochina, and he evidently travelled the coast intensively and documented everything he saw. His work, presented in English translation, is an encyclopaedic survey of boat types by geographic area, with detailed descriptions and fine illustrations of construction methods, fittings such as rigging details, achors, and rudders, and how each boat type is used. The French edition of 1949 (Voiliers d'Indochine) was translated by Stephanie Dumont and published by the Vietnam Wooden Boat Foundation, Port Townsend, Washington, in 2006. I have attempted unsuccessfully to contact the VWBF and the translator for permission to make the book available. I welcome the parties to contact me to discuss the matter. I will respect copyright requests by its current owner.
Poujade's shorter work, presented in the original French, consists of brief essays on a small selection of boat types, accompanied by pleasing drawings in pencil. Poujade was an officer in the maritime law department of the French colonial navy in the Far East.
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| A small Vietnamese fishing boat. From Bateaux en Indochine by Jean Poujade. |
REVISION 12 FEBRUARY, 2024: Some readers are finding problems with the maritime terminology in the English translation of Petrie's Sailboats of Indochina (Voiliers d'Indochine) posted here. A translation that some find superior is avalable at reasonable cost on Lulu.com as an e-book and in paperback.
REVISION, 28 Nov. 2023: The French original of Piétri's work, Voiliers d'Indochine, is also available on this blog's download page.
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