The Riddle of the Sands

First published in 1903, this novel sends the bored Foreign Office clerk Carruthers to join his friend Davies on the small yacht Dulcibella among the Frisian islands and German North Sea sands. Davies believes a German yachtsman, Dollmann, tried to wreck him, and the pair take soundings, charts, and foggy channels as they test whether the coast could hide an invasion flotilla. Clara Dollmann complicates the pursuit. Tides, fogs, and shallow channels do as much work as the human plot. The book is a sailing adventure and amateur espionage story about tidal waters, not a technical manual of German naval plans.

Bound in orange-red cloth with a cover design in black and gold by Whistler. Map endleaves printed dark brown on light brown. Orange page tops. Dark brown slipcase.