Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph

Today we add a book full of useful information for any Star Trek fan's library:

This book, first published in 1975, is an absolute classic, having gone through several reprints. It is filled with material taken directly from the show (such as diagrams of equipment and uniform patterns), as well as material filling in gaps (such as a copy of the Organian Peace Treaty, and several different classes of Star Fleet ships that were never seen in an episode).

This book is perhaps best known for two things: first, for classifying the Enterprise as a Constitution class starship. This was made official when it was referred to as such in an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation. Second, for its diagram of the bridge, showing it as being offset from the ship at a 36 degree angle:

For what it's worth, here's my opinion on the offset bridge: I understand why Franz Joseph did this. The "turbo elevator" was not located at the rear of the bridge, but one would think it would be aligned in the center of the ship, which would mean the rest of the bridge was offset. I disagree with this for two reasons. Remember how, whenever the Enterprise would go hard to port, everyone on the bridge would lurch to starboard? If the bridge was at an angle, they would have lurched more backward. Also, if you pay attention to the lights passing by the elevator walls in the Enterprise, you'll notice that, as the elevator moves, they sometimes shift from passing horizontally all the way to passing vertically -- which would seem to indicate that the elevator went both up and down and side to side (there's an excellent example of this in Wolf In the Fold), so the elevator could move to the side a little to get to the entrance to the bridge.

This is a "Special Book Club Edition." It says
so on the front, which is the only difference I
can find between this and a regular edition.

There are many images of flags and seals,
including the United Federation of Planets
and the United Nations (don't worry, it's
only fiction)

Some ships we might have gotten to see if
Star Trek had had a bigger budget

There are diagrams of most, if not all, of the
equipment and gadgetry use aboard the
Enterprise...

...but one has to wonder why cadets at the
Star Fleet Academy had to study this in
their technical manuals.





• Read Wikipedia's article on Franz Joseph
• View a page on Franz Joseph at trekplace.com. From this page you can navigate to interviews with Joseph and his family, examples of his Star Trek and other artwork, and more -- Note - This site has some great information, but many of the links no longer work.

This book can be had at amazon.com, in its original printing as well as in more recent editions:















Next Week on Zach Trek: Next week should be exciting on Zach Trek. Check in on Tuesday for the introduction of Zach Trek Randoms (posts not strictly related to collectables). On Thursday, stand by for time warp as we visit Zach's past to catalog a great item.