Ode to an Active Herreshoff Schooner
An impressive box-set publication celebrating one of the most elegant chapters of yachting’s Golden Age is available just in time for the holidays. This deluxe volume will appeal to sailors, historians, modelers and anyone who appreciates fine maritime photography and classic yacht design.
Mariette & the Herreshoff Schooners (price: $295, LTYachting Editions, 2010) by Jacques Taglang and Claas van der Linde is a two-volume, 534-page collector’s edition that showcases the graceful lines and rich history of Mariette, the steel schooner launched in 1916. The set documents Mariette as one of the last true “cathedrals of American yachting,” a vessel that continues to sail today under its 17th owner.
The publication is richly illustrated, containing more than 400 historic and contemporary photographs and drawings. Contributors of photography include Nigel Pert, Edwin Levick and the renowned studio Beken of Cowes, whose images capture Mariette’s ornate exterior and finely detailed interiors with clarity and artistry. The visual record in these volumes preserves both the yacht’s original spirit and the changes she has undergone through more than a century of active service.
Mariette was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, the celebrated “Wizard of Bristol,” and was built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol, Rhode Island. The book contextualizes Mariette inside the larger story of the Herreshoff firm and its schooner designs, tracing a rare lineage of 15 Herreshoff-designed schooners—nine of which were built in steel—and explaining their significance in early 20th-century yacht construction.
The first volume gathers personal recollections, testimony and insights from a range of notable figures connected to yachting and to Mariette’s history, including Lou Boudreau, Erik Pascoli, Tom Perkins, Tom Eaton, Chris Gartner and Charlie Wroe. These first-hand accounts provide color and perspective on what it meant to own, refit and race such a remarkable vessel.
The second volume turns to the broader Herreshoff context. It presents detailed essays and technical discussion contributed by respected authors and historians, among them Maynard Bray—who also contributed the book’s preface—Llewellyn Howland III, John Lammerts van Bueren and Luigi Lang. These essays examine the design principles, construction techniques and operational histories of the Herreshoff schooners, offering readers both narrative and technical depth.
A specially produced folder accompanies the two volumes and contains a valuable archive of 45 unique documents. This folder includes 35 previously unpublished Herreshoff Manufacturing Company schooner plans—covering construction, sail plans and accommodations—as well as two reproductions of oil paintings by artist Jamie Medlin. For modelers and boat builders, the redrawn lines plans of Mariette by François Chevalier are a highlight, providing precise reference material for study and scale reproduction.
Each copy of the edition is individually numbered and signed by the author, underscoring its status as a limited collector’s item. Ordering options are laid out for convenience: orders by credit card, check or money order can be placed through Columbia Trading Company at [email protected] or via their website at www.columbiatrading.com. Orders by check only may be sent to Howland and Company at [email protected].
This edition originally appeared in the Home Waters section of the January 2011 issue. For enthusiasts of classic yachts, maritime history and fine photographic books, Mariette & the Herreshoff Schooners offers a meticulously researched, visually rich tribute to a storied yacht and to the innovative designers and builders who shaped an important era of American yachting.