These two vintage hardback books show some signs of their good age but the instructions are as relevant today as they were in the mid 1900s.

They are illustrated guides for budding artists on the techniques of drawing ships. They each look at various different models of ships and cover everything from their basic shapes to finer details and surrounding landscape.

How to Draw Ships is by Peter F Anson and it is described as Volume 2, so there must presumably have been an earlier compilation. 

It is dated as being a revised edition published in 1955.

How to Draw Sail and Sea is by Michal Leszczynski. This one was first published in 1944.

They include tips on drawing from models, from memory, and from photographs, drawing small sailing craft, fishing vessels, Merchant Navy ships and warships.

Each comprises 64 pages and they are published by The Studio Publications.

They are not mint and each has some age and previous handling blemishes but they are fully legible throughout with the drawings clear.

On the blank inside front cover of How to Draw Ships someone has penned the name J Thewlis 1957 and on the adjacent blank page someone has pencilled M Gradwell, 1973.

They each measure approx 6.75x5.5 inches in size.