By Stephen Rappaport

The book is definitely a coffee table book, but in the best sense of the phrase. Large, heavy, elegantly designed and filled with exquisite photographs, the book has the kind of opulent look that makes you want to show it off.

The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers, Lucia del Sol Knight and Daniel Bruce MacNaughton, Eds. W.W. Norton, New York, 2005; 530 pages; 650 photographs and drawings; $250. The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers incorporates 650 drawings and photographs, many of them spectacular. A few of the photographs may have a faintly familiar air: the International One Design sloop designed by Bjarne Aas in 1936 is still a popular racing class with the Northeast Harbor fleet. Murray Peterson was a Maine native who began his design career in the Boston office of John G. Alden, after studying naval architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After World War II he opened his own office in South Bristol where, for nearly 30 years, he designed able, sturdy yachts such as the  beautiful small schooner Coaster III, that were inspired by Maine-coast workboats. It took more than 10 years to reach publication from the “gleam in the eye” stage, but Lucia del Sol Knight, one of the editors of The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers, finally has the finished product in hand. The book is available locally at Blue Hill Books, the WoodenBoat Store in Brooklin and Sherman’s Book & Stationery Store, in Bar Harbor. Staff Photo by Stephen Rappaport

More important, EYD is filled with informative, well-written articles on 500 of the most important figures in the history of yacht design over the past 200 years or so.

The book is profusely illustrated with photographs from the likes of the Rosenfelds and Beken of Cowes, and drawings from the hands of many of the designers themselves.

The book covers the field of yacht designers literally “from A to Z.” Beginning with the Norwegian master Bjarne Aas, designer of the elegant International One Design sloops raced each summer by members of the Northeast Harbor Fleet, EYD ends with an entry on contemporary powerboat designer Douglas Zurn.

In between are insightful articles on famous designers, both American and ones from overseas.

Among those profiled are Nathaniel Herreshoff and Olin Stephens and the three William Fifes (father, son and grandson), who successively dominated British yacht design from 1807 until the onset of World War II.

Also profiled are Maine-based designers such as Ernest Libby Jr., Royal and Carroll Lowell, Bob Stephens, of the Brooklin Boatyard, Ralph Stanley and dozens of lesser-known lights.

Daniel MacNaughton, a respected nautical writer and experienced boatbuilder, wrote most of the entries. But he had excellent help.

Among the 87 other authors who contributed to EYD were relatives of some of the designers.

Olin Stephenson contributed a piece on his brother Rod. Sheila McCurdy wrote about her father James, who designed the Hinckley Sou’wester sailboats. Yachting authorities from around the world such as Maynard Bray, Llewellyn (Louie) Howland III and John Rousmaniere also contributed. (In the interest of full disclosure, the reviewer was also a contributor to EYD.)

Lucia Knight conceived of The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers nearly a dozen years ago when she and her husband were looking for a wooden sailboat to buy.

Nearly all of the ads they saw included a designer’s name —many of them unfamiliar — in the boat description.

“There were so many names,” Knight said in a recent conversation at Blue Hill Books. “I wanted to look them up and I thought, ‘There must be a book,’ but there wasn’t.”

The obvious answer was to write one.

Knight realized early on that the project was too big for one person, so she enlisted MacNaughton’s help.

The two had worked together at WoodenBoat magazine and MacNaughton had written for a newspaper Knight once published.

Knight began to assemble a list of designers who might be included in the projected book.

When the list reached 1,000, she asked Jon Wilson, publisher of WoodenBoat, and Joel White to help cull the names.

With their help, and the help of an editorial board that includes some top yachting writers and historians from around the world, the list grew to include 4,000 potential subjects.

Eventually, 525 designers were chosen for inclusion. The editors made a determination of their relative importance — an analysis reflected in the length of the designers’ biographical articles.

In 1997, at Wilson’s suggestion, Knight brought a mock-up of the book to James Mairs, an editor at W.W. Norton.

The company agreed to publish the book if Knight and MacNaughton could corral at least 50 subscribers who would each commit $250 to cover the initial costs of producing the book.

Ultimately, EYD acquired the support of nearly 200 subscribers, including several prominent members of the yachting world and such prestigious institutions as the Hart Nautical Collection at the museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the G.W. Blunt Library at Mystic Seaport.

When Norton signed a contract to publish EYD, Knight told the editors she thought it would take two years to complete the book.

It would be some seven years before the project was ready to go to press.

The most difficult part of the endeavor was riding herd on the almost 100 writers who agreed to contribute to the book.

Some of the contributors lived outside the U.S. — in Australia, Spain, or Japan. Most were freelance writers with a sometimes cavalier attitude towards deadlines.

Another problem for Knight was finding the right photographs to illustrate the book — a mission that succeeded admirably  — and acquiring the rights to publish them.

The famous British photographers Beken of Cowes initially asked for a payment of a $200 rights fee for each of its pictures used in EYD.

Fortunately, most copyright holders were more cooperative. The book includes more than 600 photographs, many of them stunning or extremely rare, and all of them interesting.

Part of the fun of reading this book will be debating the editors’ allocation of space to various designers. Their decisions couldn’t have been easy.

The great American designer Nathaniel Herreshoff certainly rates his five-page entry, as does Olin Stephens, but do they really rate more space than the Scottish genius William Fife III?

The entire Herreshoff clan, including Sidney, Charles Frederick, Halsey and L. Francis, as well as Nathaniel, garners just under 10 pages, while the three generations of Fifes are covered in seven.

Should Clinton Crane really have gotten more space than B.B. Crowninshield? Did William Tripp really deserve less space than C. Raymond Hunt? All are good issues for consideration before a roaring fire or in the yacht club bar.

There is much pleasure in EYD, both for the aficionado of yacht design and for the more casual reader.

The book is rich in detail and in anecdotes. It includes among its entries, in addition to the great names of the last 200 years, many relatively unknown designers who have made (and who continue to make, in some cases) important contributions to the art and science of building boats for the pleasure of private owners.

In its descriptions of many of the great sailing and steam yachts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the “mega-yachts” now in favor, the book encourages the reader to reflect on both the changing aesthetics of yacht design at its highest level and on the philosophy of conspicuous consumption.

In its descriptions of many of the smaller vessels that have epitomized yacht design, it encourages the reader to dream.

Unfortunately, the reality of winter will soon set in. The weather will turn cold and foul. But there’s a coffee table with a copy of The Encyclopedia of Yacht Design waiting at home to provide hours of enlightenment and entertainment during the frigid months to come.