[alberg30] N by E, cont'd

[FINNUS505 at aol.com]

From: FINNUS505 at aol.com

In a message dated 1/28/00 12:53:21 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
SandersM at aol.com writes:

<< Thank you, Lee, for your recommendation of N by E -- what a pleasant 
surprise 
 of a book!  I checked it out of the library and got it home; once I opened 
it 
 I realized that I would want a volume of my own -- it's a keeper.  I tried 
 the Strand here in Manhattan but they were out, so I went online to 
 www.Alibris.com (an online source for used and out-of-print books)  and 
found 
 no fewer than 44 copies there.  Prices ranged from $6 for a "reading copy" 
 with waterstains to several hundred dollars for mint first editions, with 
 most running in the $10-$20 range.  
 
 Again, many thanks!
 
 Sanders McNew
 WILD ELF  (# 297)
 Oyster Bay, New York
  >>
Hi Sanders,
So glad you liked 'N by E' !!!!
I first found that book in the Strand about 1990 or so.  My first copy was a 
6.00, 1929 first edition, water stained, sun bleached spine, with some coffee 
cup rings on some of the pages, and when I opened it, I was hit with that 
sweet, old book aroma!!  A penciled poem-inscription on the first page 
reveals it was a christmas present to the first owner, from one of his crew, 
who I assume was a girlfriend or a wife. This copy is priceless to me!!!!
At that point,Rona and I were making the transition from racing our Snipe 
like maniacs, to the cruising lifestyle.  We had already bought our Alberg 
22, and I had already read about two french canadians who had sailed their 
Alberg22 to victory in a transatlantic race.  My inner wheels were turning, 
though professionaly, I knew it would be years before I could get enough time 
off to do any serious voyaging, and that was frustrating.  Reading that book 
was my great escape that year!
I had seen 'N by E's spine as I browsed the Strand, which was a couple of 
times each month back then, but previously I had not even picked it up, 
because I was only reading racing books back then.  But, once I sampled it, 
as I said, I couldn't put it down.  I've reread parts countless times since!!
I've read other books by Rockwell Kent since, looking for a repeat of that 
first experience, but 'N by E' is the best of the lot. The others are good, 
but they do not excite the interest the same. 'Voyaging' is an earlier book 
about a trip he takes to South America, and an attempt to round the Horn. 
Another book is about a year spent in Alaska.
He was a  lucky guy.  He was born into an old industrial robber baron family, 
so money was no problem.  He was a talented artist, so he could act as 
eccentricaly as he liked!  He went off on self made adventures, and wrote 
about them. Other contemporarie's accounts of him are not very flattering- 
apparently he was a bit of a 'cad', to use the language of his day. He'd 
borrow money and not return it, he was divorced three times, and his 
selfishness was cited as the usual cause for things not working out, etc, 
etc. After he published 'N by E', the parents of 'Sam', the kid who owned 
"Direction", were so incensed by Kent's version of the story, that they 
published their own vanity press version of the story to clear their sons 
name!  Apparently, shortly after their return from Greenland, Sam was 
tragicaly killed in a car accident, and sam's parents asked Rockwell Kent not 
to publish his book.  Being the cad that he was, he did as he pleased, and in 
this case, I'm glad he did the selfish thing!!!
So, when are you setting out for the Straits of Belle Isle?  :)
Lee
Stargazer #255

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