An Interview with Leon Lyons author of Helmets of the Deep

This column was created in issue 8, Summer 1996, to cover helmets that were not featured in Leon Lyons 1988 book, Helmets of the Deep. Leon is now undertaking a second edition of the book and took time out in August 2007 to answer some questions for us.

HDM: We have received a lot of interest in the announcement that you are doing a second edition of Helmets of the Deep. Our pre orders are past 100. What was the most import factor in your decision to undertake this new project? Leon Lyons: It's hard to say what the most important factor is. I would probably have to say there are three factors. The first one being the questions from many friends and collectors of why don't I do a re-print. The second being of how many more helmets have shown up on the scene since my first book was published, and the third, finding the right person to do the photography. What with all this digital stuff they do today, and myself not wanting to get into the learning of how-to-do-it mode, the photographer came along at the right time, and is also very helpful in assembling the contents of all the new pages.

HDM: Are you retaining the core of the first edition and expanding it with new material? Leon Lyons: Yes. Some 380 pages. I am adding another 500 pages or more, and therefore I'm having to raise the initial price quote I made. Initially I thought that I would only be adding another two to three hundred pages. I thought it was going to be easy re-printing the pages from the original book, but I found out that most of the newer publishing houses do not work with the kind of color separations I have from the first book, so we had to re-photograph each page again from the original proof pages. This was a kind of a godsend, in that I can now insert all the new material in their respective chapters, creating all new page numbers. This re-print project was cast into four phases. The first was taking pictures of all the new helmets I have collected since my first book was published, second re-photographing all the pages in the first book, third checking out all the CD's I have received with new material, and the fourth was to do the layout's of all the new pages. When all the info is on CD's, then they will be mailed out to the publisher, who needs maybe three months to have the finished product at my door. So, if I can get it all done by the end of this year, my end of the project, you could be seeing the book around March of 2008.

HDM: Will you be updating any of the first edition information? Leon Lyons: Yes, some up-dating of the helmets in the first edition. I have taken some of these hats and have taken them apart to show what they look like unassembled in the normal way, photographing serial numbers, name plates, military and commercial markings, etc.

HDM: What sort of new content will you have and how many copies are you printing.? Leon Lyons: It is amazing the great response I have had from people wanting to contribute pictures for this edition. They have certainly added to the amount of new pages for the book. New content will include pictures of old time diver helmets, the new generation of fiberglass, brass, and stainless commercial helmets used today. The new content will consist of many newer dive helmets to be pictured. I am doing 1,900 regular and 100 leather bound copies.

HDM: Are there any major surprises in what you have discovered since the first edition? Leon Lyons: Yes, there will be many surprises. For example, in the chapter on Russia in my first book, there was only one style of helmet shown. In the second edition there will maybe be an additional 18 helmets pictured that collector's have not seen. Also, Brazil will be featured with several helmets.

HDM: The number of people collecting helmets seems to have expanded considerably with the advent of the internet, which was not really active when you published the first edition. Are there many contributions from collectors who were not featured in the first edition? Leon Lyons: Yes, some other's, with photo's that I do not already have, could be in the book. I have mentioned earlier about the number of new pages to be added, but I can only guess that it will be another 500 pages, but quite possibly add on another 200 pages to the 500. I have no way right now of telling the exact number, until we finish with the CD's, and I'm also waiting for a few more CD's to arrive. Also, I have added another 3 helmets to my collection since last month, so there are three more pages, maybe four. One hat is very interesting in the condition it is in, and from where it came.

HDM: What is your estimated retail price? Leon Lyons: Price for the normal edition is looking to be in the $400 range now, and the leather edition, near $800. I'll know better once I have all the contents together. When I am working on phase four, I shall let HDS and others who have pending orders know. Probably around November. I will give my best estimated cost of the book and once I receive payment the order will be confirmed. With HDS I might just ship your complete order directly from the printers to your office and then fly in to sign them all. You can throw a party for me if you want. This book will be much larger in format size than the first one, so that it opens flat in the middle binding area. It will need a special size shipping box so you need to figure out that cost plus your shipping.

HDM: What about the book on diving knives? Leon Lyons: If all goes according to plan in getting my material to the publisher of the helmet book, then sometime next year. In April or May, I will probably begin work on a book about diving knives, the brass and steel hard hat diver knives, knives used by frogman and SEAL teams around the world, and scuba diving knives. Up to this date in time, I have some 1,500 diving knives in my collection, all different variations. You may see 30 of them that look alike, but they will have different company names stamped on them, that were made on contract for the navies, and others that have military markings stamped into the metal parts. So you will have the one knife with nothing, and the next will have markings on it, therefore, a variation. It will be one heck of an undertaking to do this book, as all the knives are hanging up for display, and they are not in any kind of order. As they found there way into my collection, they would be hung on the walls in the groups they came in, all over the museum area. On one wall alone, there are 496 knives hanging there. You could say it is a job I will not be happily looking forward to, something akin to be going back to work! But I know that this book will be the definitive record of diving knives that are known to us collectors. I expect that I will also have photos of knives from other collections. I have been asked by many, when the book is coming out. All I can say is, that it will be published.

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