Adventures Afloat | A Nautical Bibliography [In Two Volumes]; A Comprehensive Guide to Books in English Recounting the Adventures of Amateur Sailors upon the Waters of the World in Yachts, Boats, and Other Devices and Including Works on the Arts and Sciences of Cruising, Racing, Seamanship, Navigation, Design, Building, etc. from the Earliest Writings Through 1986 [From the Steve Fossett Collection]

London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc, 1988. First Edition. Near Fine. [8.75x5.5in]; Vol. I, Part I - xii, 476 pp., Vol. II, Parts II-IV - [1], 478-1179 pp., 5,594 entries, appendices and indices; Royal Blue cloth covers with gilt lettering on front and spine, all edges trimmed; Minimal shelf wear, the bookplate of Steve Fossett Collection of Adventure and Exploration is on the front end paper of each volume. From the Preface, "... inclusion are histories, narratives, novels, and humorous works about yachting, boating, canoeing, and surfing, which tell of cruising, canoe tripping, racing, competitions, and just messing about...". A very comprehensive bibliography that also includes books about vessels, building boats, related nautical businesses, children's books, voyages of naval and merchant ships, exploration, and all other things relating to traveling on the seas.

Steve Fossett (1944-2007) was a successful commodities trader and an adventurer that set world records in balloons, sailboats, gliders and unique powered aircraft. In 2002, he was the first person to solo circumnavigate the world in a balloon, uninterrupted and unrefueled, and, in 2005, made a solo nonstop unrefueled flight around the world in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer sponsored by Richard Branson. In the 1980's Fossett began developing a library collection of books on adventure and exploration. He enlisted the services of an experienced bookseller to assist in building an over 2,000 volume collection focusing on significant and authoritative accounts of aeronautics, polar, Asia, Australasia, circumnavigation's, mountaineering and others. In September, 2007, Fossett disappeared on a solo flight in a light aircraft over the eastern Sierra Mountains along the California and Nevada border. After an extensive search, the wreckage was found by hikers a year later along the rugged Mt. Ritter range, about 10 miles east of Yosemite National Park.