SHIPS : and HOW THEY SAILED THE SEVEN SEAS (5000 B.C. - A.D. 1935)

New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1935. 1st Edition 3rd Printing. Hardcover. As New/Very Good. Hendrik Willem Van Loon (Author & Illustrator). Text/As NEW & Bright. 1935 First Edition, 3rd Printing. Blue linen boards/VG w/trace rubs to corner tips & fading to gilt embossed spine. Unique fold-out DJ/VG --- 18" x 20" map of world's Great Discoveries showing 28 historical sea routes ---, sound & intact w/rubs to edges & folds reinforced w/archival tape; front cover surface showing marked soiling & discoloration. History of man told, and illustrated, through the story of the sea and ships from 5,000 B.C. to 1935 A.D. (covering 7,000 years) by Dutch-American historian, journalist & author Hendrik Willem Van Loon (1882 - 1944). Book is a history of warfare for as Van Loon says: "Man is a predatory animal. He lives by eating other animals and he enriches himself by stealing that which belongs to his neighbors. Hence the history of the world is the history of war." Ships were weapons used for conquest, widening territory or trade expansion. A lucid, encyclopedic volume. 318 pgs w/some 150 informative drawings by author, in 16 chapters. A book for all ages.