Greetings all!  I've been offline for awhile but am raring to go on the ol' Great Eastern.  I've been temporarily sidelined by a cracked bone in my left hand (my writing hand, of course), but I can tell you about a very interesting book that you may not be aware of.  It's "American Steamships on the Atlantic" by Cedric Ridgely-Nevitt.  The author is a marine draftsman so the book is very well illustrated with plans.  It covers the period from the first experimental craft to the end of the paddle era.  It has a really complete set for the Havre line steamer 'Arago',  a very handsome paddler which also has some good photographs available (not in the book, unfortunately). It should be available used from Amazon, which is where I got mine.  Highly recommended.