The Marlinspike Sailor. by Hervey Garrett Smith (1994)

This book teaches you how to personalize your yacht with custom rope and canvas work. It covers rope care, basic knots, multi strand knots, splicing, worming/parceling/serving, emergency sail repair, and block and tackle.
I really like how it provides training for basic skills linked with specific
projects that require those skills and explains how the end products will
improve your yachting experience. The illustrations are large, clear and
complete enough to learn the skills and work the projects.
There are a number of sailing related stories that hold interest and make
the book enjoyable, but I use it largely as a skills manual, reading and practicing a small section at a time.
The coverage of old materials (hemp and manilla rope, canvas, tar) and techniques in modern language serves as a bridge to older books that may cover the skills in greater depth, but have serious terminology and language problems for current day readers. This is a great first book for those who are interested in reconstructing or repairing old boats.
Most of the time he describes the required supplies very well, but there are
a few items that he takes for granted, and that are not known to a modern reader. For example, in doing ornamental rope work, he refers to 'fishing line', but never describes the fiber, thickness or construction. That may have been obvious in 1940, but now that all fishing line is monofilament or braided synthetic, the reader has to do a lot of research to even identify the item.
This is a great book for anyone who wants to start learning the rope and
canvas skills required for old hemp/manila/canvas boats. It only goes into medium detail, so you'll need more resources to become really proficient, but
it will get you started.