Cool magazine/book I found.....

[1969ivan1]

Cover

Inside cover

Mn diver with big carp and homemade aqualung

Manly men killing sharks

More men

Aussie men


Looks like this was printed in 53. I asked Vintage.Scuba about it and he never heard of it? I got it from a local diver here in Cinti.

[JES]

Way cool!

That 1,160 lb Hammer Shark is my favorite.

[eskimo3883]

So, your dive buddy says "Hey, I just saw a giant hammerhead and I have a great idea."

This book is new to me. Another one for my list.

[Bryan]

So, your dive buddy says "Hey, I just saw a giant hammerhead and I have a great idea."
.

I have said this many times......Just ask Rob

[JES]

So, your dive buddy says "Hey, I just saw a giant hammerhead and I have a great idea."
.

I have said this many times......Just ask Rob

Not to mention a Commercial Submarine filled with Japanese Tourists.

[Bryan]

Last Sunday night I was trying to convince Rob to go dive the Sea of Cortez at the sea mount and stab a few hammerheads with me. OR I want to jump out of the helicopter on the tiger shark like the guy on the Discovery Channel commercial.

[1969ivan1]

As soon as I win the lotto, I am calling in sick for 3 weeks with a Doctor's note, and Bryan and I are going to Truk to see skulls, stab sharks, and break all the other rules they have about touching and stabbing.

[Douchebag]

As soon as I win the lotto, I am calling in sick for 3 weeks with a Doctor's note, and Bryan and I are going to Truk to see skulls, stab sharks, and break all the other rules they have about touching and stabbing.

Don't you two already break most "touching" rules out there?

[Bryan]

The only time we did that was when you sat between us on the couch and said we could break all the rules..

[1969ivan1]

OUCH!

[ivan's mermaid]

There was some "touchin" going on here, I'm just sayin.....

[21]

Read about your recent find on VDH.. Congratulations are in order! Perhaps We can compare the two copies...mine is as follows;

"A guide to Skin diving and underwater spearfishing By Max L Jones, Universal sales co, 1085 Peach place, Concord Cal. 8X 11 paper magazine bound,75 pages. First edition 1952, 2 printing 1953, Second Edition, 1953, 1954, 3, 4,5 printing 1955 -- last was June 1955.

I have the last edition..Frankly I do not recall a Max Jones in that era of diving...There was a female who always appeared at local events by the name of Jones-- She was some what on the aggressive side and some what impressed with her talents..Possibly could be related, how ever the last time I recall seeing her was at the 1956 or 1957 Star Mop at the LA breakwater.

She was not the E.A .Babs Jones who appeared on a cover of SDM. I knew her and dove with her on several UPS trips...After the SDM cover she also disappeared from LA diving.

There are several other books aka glorified magazines of the same era you might like to investigate and hopeful add to your growing collection, They are;

"Fun in the water" By Commander Bob Winston, USNR, June, Osborn, Foster and Smith publisher, 350 Fifth ave. NYC. 8X11 paper magazine bound. 62 pages. One edition 1952. Well illustrated by Eric Gurney

"The great outdoors book of Skin and SCUBA" BY Charles Francis Allyn, Great out doors publishing company, 474 twenty eight Street, St Petersburg , Fla. 8 X 11 paper magazine bound, 80 pages, one edition. No date but judging from known equipment approximately 1960. Illustrated with drawings and photographs

"Spearfishing; How and where." By Bill Barada. 1969 Voit Rubber co publishers. (Santa Ana Cal) 8 X 11 paper magazine bound, Approximately 100 pages, on high quality glossy paper stock.

This "book" was published by Voit to promote their new "Swimaster" line of Spear guns, which are now known as JBLs. (aka Joseph B Lamonica.) Page 42 is of particular interest... a full page picture of Omar Wood who shot a BSB & 2 WSB with the new Voit gun. It was an "interesting" boat trip--All on Voit. A lot of the So cal Top guns were on board..Bottom Scratchers, Sub mariners etc ...only three fish were taken that day all by Omar. Needless to say the decks were steaming in the return trip.

FYI In 2000 There was a millennium spearfishing event that honored as I recall 83 divers from all over the world as "Fathers of Spearfishing." Omar Wood, Ron Merker and I were the only ones selected from Orange County California. Quite an honor to be selected and recognized as a pioneer in a sport....

[1969ivan1]

Sam
Mine is a second edition I believe and is 77 pages counting the back inside cover.

It reads as follows.............

FIRST EDITION
1ST PRINTING OCTOBER 1952
2ND PRINTING JANUARY 1953

SECOND EDITION
1ST PRINTING JUNE 1953

It is also a large "magazine" size/style book

I appreciate your input on this Sam

Rob

[eskimo3883]

I finally found a copy of this book on Ebay but I just looked around and there is a copy of this book currently on Amazon for $25 USD if anyone is interested. Very nice photos. Mostly free diving but some pre-1952 scuba with very early suits.

[Britmarine]

I finally found a copy of this book on Ebay but I just looked around and there is a copy of this book currently on Amazon for $25 USD if anyone is interested. Very nice photos. Mostly free diving but some pre-1952 scuba with very early suits.

Congratulations on your find! There's a short review of the 1952 edition of Max L. Jones' A Guide to Skin Diving and Underwater Spearfishing on page 118 of the December 1952 issue of MotorBoating, which I reproduce below:

MotorBoating_December1952_Page118.jpg

and this seems to be the front cover of the second, 1955, edition of the title:

and here's a Universal Sales Company advertisement for this second edition from the Skin Diving History website:

Any chance of a sample scan of the early suits you mention? I don't have a copy of the Jones title, but the earliest spearfishing-related book on my shelf, Schenk and Kendall's Shallow Water Diving and Spearfishing (Cambridge, MD: Cornell Maritime Press, 1954) is a particularly good source of information about historical drysuits such as Desco, Bel-Aqua, Cousteau's Constant Volume and Pirelli.