While researching before writing my modest vintage drysuit monographs, I found three British diving books quite a help:
![Image](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41-83Tw583L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
1. Hampton, T. A. (1955)
The Master Diver and Underwater Sportsman, Adlard Coles Limited, Southampton,
in association with George G. Harrap & Company Limited, London, Toronto, Sydney and Wellington and John de Graff, Inc, New York, USA.
![Image](http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTI5NFg4OTE=/z/JnYAAMXQuTNTOozZ/$_35.JPG)
2. Kenyon, Lee (1956)
Collins Pocket Guide to the Undersea World, London, St James's Place: Collins.
![Image](http://classicdivebooks.customer.netspace.net.au/Small.JPG)
3. Small, Peter (1967)
Your Guide to Underwater Adventure, London: Lutterworth Press.
Captain Hampton's title is probably closest in content to Roberts'
Basic Scuba, which I regard as the finest American book-length source when it comes to early drysuits and their use. The ninth chapter of
The Master Diver and Underwater Sportsman, which is entitled "Protective Clothing", provides an authoritative overview of what was available in the way of exposure suits in mid-1950s Britain and more particularly the products of Dunlop, Heinke and Siebe Gorman, which were the main if not the only British diving suit manufacturers of the time. The suits included a couple of hood-less models, both wetsuits (Siebe-Gorman Sponge Rubber and Heinke Dolphin).
As for American vintage drysuits without hoods, there's the US Divers "Skin Diver's Seamless Suit":
![Image](http://www.skindivinghistory.com/mfg_retailers/u/USD_Manufacturing_Corp/01.jpg)
the Bel-Aqua #101 Suit:
![Image](http://www.skindivinghistory.com/mfg_retailers/b/Bell_Aqua/26.jpg)
the Dolphin Suit":
![Image](http://www.skindivinghistory.com/mfg_retailers/d/Dolphin_Enterprises/01.jpg)
the Healthways "Aqua Flite":
![Image](http://www.skindivinghistory.com/mfg_retailers/h/Healthways/29.jpg)
and the Skooba-"totes" three-piece:
![Image](http://www.skindivinghistory.com/mfg_retailers/s/Skooba_Totes/06.jpg)
and there are several hoodless "swim shirts" from the period with neck and wrist/upper-arm seals, e.g.:
The "Skin Diving History" website showcasing the above suits was an indispensable source of information when studying the features of vintage drysuits, because the ads provide much greater detail than books tend to do.
I wish I could help more when it comes to books and documents about the interface between diving suits and deep-diving operations. To be honest, apart from the four books I've already mentioned, I've found most book titles less forthcoming on the subject than ads and manuals. Although the first chapter of a 1992 book entitled
Drysuit diving: A guide to diving dry by Steve Barsky, Dick Long and Bob Stinton is devoted to "a brief history of diver thermal protection", it is frustratingly brief for my liking and, when it comes to the 1950s, it appears to say more about the invention of the neoprene wetsuit than it does about drysuits of the period.
Perhaps others can shed more light on Ron's enquiry?