A Look Back...Cornell Maritime Press/ Tidewater Publishers
By Marci Andrews

Felix M. Cornell, Publishing Legend

Born in Alabama, the son of a country doctor, Felix M. Cornell co-edited and published his first book, American Merchant Seaman’s Manual in 1938 with Allan C. Hoffman, Master Mariner. This first edition was printed by the George Banta Publishing Company and is in its second printing of the seventh edition today.

Cornell joined the U.S. Navy, cutting his engineering studies short at the University of Tennessee during World War I. He later went to night school to finish his engineering degree, and then worked for the Pulaski Skyway and the 14th Street subway in New York after the war. When he found himself out of work in 1929, he bought 15 tons of books for $100 from a used bookstore that was closing in New Jersey and founded the Cornell Book Shop, specializing in maritime subjects. His location was near the Hudson River’s docks and many seamen stopped by. One day a man came in and bought a book for a nickel. When he sold it at auction for $300, the news hit the papers. Book collectors discovered Cornell’s shop and calls came in from all over the country.

In the spring of 1938, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy had just opened its doors and Cornell realized their need for maritime textbooks. It was this original venture with which Cornell Maritime Press, a world-renowned maritime publisher, was established.

To decide what books to publish for the U.S. Merchant Marines Academy, Cornell ran an ad in the National Maritime Union newspaper offering prizes to seamen who sent in maritime textbook suggestions.

Many of his book ideas also stemmed from conversations with the men who frequented his shop. In a September 20, 1942, New York Times interview with Cornell, he explained how he came to publish his second book, The Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Ropework:

“My friends told me I was crazy, but I went ahead anyway. It was while I was working on the manual (American Merchant Seaman’s Manual). Some questions arose over the proper knot for a certain shipboard use. A friend of mine told me he knew a man who knew all about knots. He brought around a sailor named Raoul Graumont, who brought two suitcases about the size of steamer trunks filled with knots. It was this guy’s hobby. I said to myself, ‘We’ve got to have a knot book.’ Graumont had a friend, John Hensel, whom he’d shipped with. Also a knot bug. Between them they had about 3,200 knots, plain and fancy.”

Thus, Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Ropework was born. Cornell borrowed $10,000 to publish the 632-page volume in 1939. Praise from reviewers brought in immediate sales of 2,700 at a $10 price tag. Today it is in its tenth printing of the fourth edition.

Maritime Niche Paid Off
When his third book, Modern Shipfitter’s Handbook, sold 50,000 copies the first year, Cornell knew he had found his niche. In addition to selling to the academy, he sold to government bureaus, bookstores, ships’ stores, bars where seamen hung out, cigar stores, nautical hardware shops, seamen in shipyards, and took out ads in newspapers steeringseamen to the shops.

He went on tours of the southern shipbuilding cities seeking authors for subjects he sought to publish. He hit another winner, selling 50,000 of a pocket-sized book called, How to Abandon Ship, to the Army and Navy during World War II. Although the war was good to the Cornells financially, they lost their oldest son, Bill, in an air raid over Europe.

By May 1943, Cornell bought a seven-story building and moved his headquarters to the top floor at 214 W. 23rd Street, where he had fifty employees. Here he had his publishing offices, ran a lending library, a general book area, and a specialized maritime department that Raoul Graumont was hired to manage. He still operated the old bookstore, but the “Admiral” designed and constructed the new publishing house for comfort.

Cornell also bought the forty-four-acre Canopus Island as a retreat for his family in Putnam County, New York. He had plans to develop the island as a recreation center and playground for his staff. During the week, he spent long hours at the office and lived with his wife and three children in their New York apartment.

Cornell Maritime Press grew rapidly during World War II, as Cornell worked closely with the military and shipping industry to produce dozens of manuals, textbooks, handbooks, and teaching aids. In the first five years of Cornell Maritime Press’s existence, the company published fifty maritime titles.

From New York City to the Chesapeake Bay
Cornell divorced his first wife and by 1948 moved to Woolford, Maryland, “to be near the river and bay, and because his new wife (Mary Jane Neild) is a Woolford girl.” There he continued to publish maritime textbooks.

“I’ve been in the Navy and Merchant Marines and worked in shipyards, but I had to come to Dorchester (county) to win a promotion to the rank of captain,” he told Maurice Rimpo of The Daily Banner in 1953. The article hailed Cornell as “a powerful man with a quick infectious laugh and the Nation’s Top Maritime Publisher.”

It was 1950 when Cornell published the first edition of Leather Braiding, which became the company’s all-time best seller. Author Bruce Grant was a newspaper man whose hobby was leather braiding. He had collected and catalogued all the existing literature on the craft but needed an artist to illustrate his book. No books had been published on the subject in this country. Grant was familiar with Larry Spinelli who had illustrated many books for Cornell Maritime Press. He secured his services, and Cornell Maritime Press started a new line of books that has served the company well for more than fifty years.

In 1955, Cornell established the Tidewater Publishers imprint to begin publishing books of regional interest. He was often seen aboard a thirty-two-foot boat reading manuscripts while floating along the Little Choptank River. Along New York’s Publisher’s Row, where Cornell’s cronies remained, they spoke of him with envy saying that he “hoisted simultaneously, sails in one hand and sales in the other.”

The Kudner Era
The war was over, but Cornell, his wife Mary Jane, and son Robert, continued to publish with a staff of eight until Felix passed in 1970. The company continued to thrive under the management of his widow and son. When they sold to Arthur H. Kudner in 1978, Robert Cornell stayed on as vice president until his death in 1981.

Kudner owned Tidewater Publishing Corporation in Centreville, Maryland, a direct-mail printing plant, unrelated to Tidewater Publishers, the book imprint. He moved Cornell Maritime Press/Tidewater Publishers to 306 Water Street in Centreville. On April 8, 1994, just days after the company moved to the waterfront offices it enjoys today (101 Water Way on the Corsica River and town wharf), a warehouse fire destroyed thousands of books in inventory. Kudner’s estate has recently sold Tidewater Publishing Corporation (the direct-mail plant), but continues to own Cornell Maritime Press/Tidewater Publishers, with Joseph G. Johns, Jr. as president and publisher.

Cornell Maritime Press/Tidewater Publishers has sailed through the stormy seas of book publishing, holding fast to its maritime heritage. With 222 books on its list, the company foresees good wind in its future.