Captain W D Andrews (2 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Later Printing. Later printing with new preface, possilby 1890. Light wear, mainly to covers. Pages have occasional light spots. There is actually very little poetry in the volume, it consists mainly of listing many of the life saving heroics of Caprtain Andrews. He kept quite busy, performing his first rescue at age sixteen.

8vo. 160 pp. Photo frontisp., preserving original tissue guard, numerous woodcut-engraved plates, text illustrations, photo plates. Cobalt-blue publisher's cloth over beveled boards, gilt lettering & lozenge illust. of swimmer and life preserver front cover, a.e.g. (minor darkening to fore-edges, minor bumping to corners, slight uniform interior toning), still VG copy. Second edition, substantially expanded & revised, of this important Progressive Era handbook feeding the growing enthusiasm in Victorian Canada and the U.S. for embracing recreational and sport swimming, water sports, life saving activities, and the vital importance of everyone being instructed on how to swim. Andrews was a swimming instructor at the Wiman Bath Trust, and formed the Toronto Harbour Life Saving Service in 1883 with Constable Ward, and encouraged in their recruits physical training, development, importance of lighthouses. Of particular importance are his emphasis on encouraging women to learn how to swim, locating suitable swimming places, as well as swimwear. In addition, he also addresses how no physical disability should interfere with a person's buoyancy or swimming ability. The 19th-Century Canadian version of water polo featuring players riding wooden barrel "horses" with paddles pushing a large floating rubber ball apparently proved to be short-lived. See: Kossuth, Dangerous Waters: Victorian Decorum, Swimmer Safety, and the Establishment of Public Bathing Facilities in London (Canada) (Aug. 6, 2006).