London: Jane's Yearbooks, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., 1969. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Hardcover. Quarto. 28, [2], 581, [2], 37, 35, [3], 57, [4], xvi, [3] pages. Illustrations. Tables. Addenda. Naval Staffs. Who's Who. Bibliography, Genera. Index. DJ is in a plastic sleeve. Some page discoloration noted. This is a large and heavy book and would require additional shipping charges if sent outside of the United States. This book covers 15,000 ships in more than 110 countries. Includes 3,000 photographs, plans, silhouettes and line drawings. This is an annual reference book of information on all the world's warships arranged by nation, including information on ships' names, dimensions, armaments, silhouettes and photographs, etc. Each edition describes and illustrates warships of different national naval and paramilitary forces, providing data on their characteristics. The first issue was illustrated with Jane's own ink sketches--photos began to appear with the third volume in 1900. The present title was adopted in 1905. It was originally published in London in 1898 as Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships, in order to assist naval officers and the general public in playing naval wargames. Its success eventually launched a number of military publications carrying the name "Jane's". Ten early editions of Jane's (those of 1898, 1905-06, 1906-07, 1914, 1919, 1924, 1931, 1939, 1944-45, and 1950-51) were reissued in facsimile reprints by Arco Publishing starting in 1969. All of these appeared in the oblong or "landscape" format that characterized the series until the 1956/57 edition, while from 1957/58 the present "portrait" layout was adopted, thus matching the sister Jane's publication on aircraft. More