200 Years of Surfing Literature:

An Annotated Bibliography

This is the world first bibliography dedicated to
surfing literature, designed for the surfing historian and collector.
Including introductions by Steve Pezman, Joel T. Smith and Daved Marsh.
Based on the groundbreaking work of "The Water Log" by Daved Marsh, Including years of worldwide research by the Surf Guide T.E.A.M.

This publication was made possible by a generous grant from the Surfing Heratige Foundation.

Featuring these 4 eras:

-1778-1899 "Discovery" Introduction by Joel T. Smith
* A listing of all the early published accounts of surfing as well as early published art - pre 1900
*With short quotations from the actual text. That will allow you to get a feel for the writings.

-1900-1959 "Rebirth" Introduction by Surfing Historian Joel T. Smith (See his latest articles in Surfers Journal)
* A complete list of everything published pre 1959, magazines, books and even comics.
* Also relavant notes from surfing historians and many images of the classic early surfing magazine covers and comics.

-1960-1970 "The Boom" Introduction by the great surfing Historian's Joel T. Smith & Daved Marsh
* Listing all the great surfing books of surfing's golden era.
*Includes many interviews with surfing's renowned authors and historical notes from surfing historians.


-1971-2003 "Modern" Introduction by the great Historians Daved Marsh with Joel T. Smith
* A T.E.A.M overview of all the classics from 1970-2000
*Includes interviews with surfing's renowned authors and historical notes from surfing historians.

And so much more........

- Including a unique, yet simple numbering system that will allow for constant updates to the bibliography as well as a constantley evolving price guide. With the use of participating web sites.

SURFER MAGAZINE
Vol 45, No. 9
Sept. 2004

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It is quite possible that very few people other than bookish magazine editors and bespectacled surfing clerics will very much care about the history of surfing literature.
But for those that do, a stunning step forward is presented in this most recent publication from the Surfing Heritage Foundation.
With introductions by Steve Pezman, Joel T. Smith and Daved Marsh, the book was "orchestrated" and published by Timothy T. DeLaVega, and does an impressive job of cataloging most of the surf literature distributed since the genre's awkward inception 200 years ago at the hands of captain Cook. With few exceptions, the entirety of surfing literature is presented in this book, pocked with previously published author interviews (Actually the interviews where done over the last 3 years and are previously unpublished. TDLV) and scattered press-release-style quotes that at least give a glimpse into the significance of a random selection of the works.
FOR ANYONE LOOKING TO BRUSH UP ON SURFING LITERATURE, THIS BOOK IS A MUST HAVE. - B.A.M



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Honolulu Lite by Charles Memminger

The Honolulu Star Bulletin

Tuesday, May 18, 2004



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Early Hawaii surfing writers wiped out

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"In one place we came upon a large company of naked natives, of both sexes and all ages, amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf-bathing."



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SO begins Mark Twain's not-so-politically correct description of surfing, published in a 1872 memoir. He continues: "Each heathen would then paddle three or four hundred yards out to sea, taking a short board with him, then face the shore and wait for a particularly prodigious billow to come along; at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell! It did not seem that a lightening express train could shoot along at a more hair-raising speed. I tried surf-bathing once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I struck the bottom with a couple of barrels of water in me."



Twain's clunky attempt to describe surfing is actually one of the better literary accounts attempted by the first westerners to view surfing in Hawaii. From Capt. James Cook to the earliest missionaries, the haole just couldn't quite comprehend what they were seeing, and had even more trouble putting it in writing.



AN INCREDIBLY COOL little book with the incredibly stuffy title of "200 Years of Surfing Literature -- An Annotated Bibliography," has just been published by Kauai surfing historian Timothy T. DeLa Vega. It is the most comprehensive list of published surfing writing I've ever seen, but the dazzle is in the details. Serious researchers will be able to find names, dates, publications and chapter references of just about any historical surfing writing. But the casual reader will get a kick out of snippets of early descriptions of surfing. The journalists knew they were seeing something amazing, they just couldn't quite describe it.



Adolphe Barrot, visiting on a French sloop of war in 1836 put it this way: "T'words noon, the entire female population of Kealakekua assembled to bathe ... then they plunged thence entirely naked into the waves which were breaking upon the shore; a plank, six or eight feet in length, and pointed at one end, enabled them to sustain themselves on the crest of the waves. It was indeed a singular picture."



When the haole tried to surf, the picture was not so pretty. Adventurer Edward Perkins noted in his 1854 journal: "The art of surf-riding is not so simple as it would seem ... a roller caught me as it broke and ... whirled me along in every conceivable attitude (until) I was compelled to abandon my aquatic sports for the remainder of the day."



Even more bizarre are the early drawings of surfing. The artists managed to put the surfers riding behind waves, beside waves and where there were no waves at all, everywhere but actually on the face of a wave.



Luckily, photography finally game along to clear up what these early writers were trying to describe.



This book is a must for anyone whose ever attempted -- as a writer put it in 1873 -- to stand "in the midst of foam seething like champagne, on the crest of a rushing sea-avalanche."

tim.delavega@hawaiiantel.net