item number |
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| 76. | O.J.H. (Omar J. Humphrey.) WRECK OF THE RANIER. Portland, ME. (1887.) 148 pp. The unfortunate Rainier was built in Maine in 1883. After a collision in the Delaware she finally managed to leave for Japan. She was wrecked on a coral reef enroute. The crew built a schooner and sailed to safety. There are plenty of natives, high adventure and Yankee ingenuity. The Captain even brought his daughter with him. There may be a movie here. This copy in original illustrated wrappers, ex-library Maine Historical Soc. with call number sticker at top of front cover and bookplate inside. Text clean. $100 |
| 77. | Olds, Irving S. BITS AND PIECES OF AMERICAN HISTORY. NY. 1951. b/w plates. xxv, 463 pp. A key reference for nautical antiques, prints, paintings. Spine ends worn, else VG $150 |
| 78. | Ozanne, (Nicholas-pierre-Jeanne-Francoise). MARINE MILITAIRE OU RECUEIL DES DIFFERENS VAISSEAUX QUI SERVENT A LA GUERRE... Paris. n. d. (1762) b/w engravings. 50 pl. 18th century naval vessels and tactics pictured and described. Each page is a copper engraving. The final plate, 50, folds in three parts. Ozanne was from a family of marine artists and engravers, and his work supported two sisters and a brother. According to Brewington, he also designed naval frigates. Polak 7234. Dict. Marine Artists p. 287. This is a wide margined copy bound in glit decorated calf with raised bands and spine label over marbled boards. VG copy of a scarce book. $3500 See Illustration |
| 79. | Panckoucke (Charles Joseph.) RECUEIL DE PLANCHES DE L'ENCYCLOPEDIE. PLANCHES DES PECHES. Paris. 1793. b/w plates. 4to. 32 pp. plus plates. 114 engraved plates, including many double page, of fisheries methods and equipment. A marvelous assortment of nets, hooks boats, drying racks, rakes, spades, pots, shovels, lines, blocks, trawls, etc. each in contemporary settings as they actually be used, often with close-up views of specific equipment. Printing and the Mind of Man is dismissive of Panckoucke's effort to imitate Diderot, but in this instance he has succeeded admirably. These are wonderful plates, and they give a very clear explication of 18th century fisheries methods and equipment, both salt and fresh water. Unsewn signatures in later clamshell box with label. $750 See Illustration |
| 80. | Parry, William E. JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE... JOURNAL OF A SECOND VOYAGE... JOURNAL OF A THIRD VOYAGE... NARRATIVE OF AN ATTEMPT TO REACH THE NORTH POLE. Lon. 1821, 1824, 1826, 1828. b/w plates and charts, some folding, ills. in text. 4 vols. 4to. First Voyage, (8), xxix, 310, (1), clxxix, (1) pp. Second Voyage, (6), xxx, 571, (1) pp. Third Voyage, xxvii, (1), 186, (2), 151 (2) pp. Narrative, xxii, (1), 229 pp. Parry cut his teeth in the Spitzbergen whale fishery, then served under Ross in the Arctic. He commanded his own expedition in 1819-20, which was successful. A second expedition was sent out in 1821 to attempt the long-desired Northwest Passage again, and a third was sent out under Parry in 1824. Finally, in 1827, the Hecla was secured in the ice and Parry attempted to reach the Pole by hauling sledges over the ice. They got as far as 82 45 north. This, then, is the complete set of first editions of Parry’s voyages. The fourth, “Narrative,” is especially scarce. All are handsomely illustrated with landscapes, drawings of eskimoes, charts and recognition views. In fact the set is noted for its striking polar scenes and for enthological drawings by George Lyons. See Arctic Bib. 13142, 13144, 13145, 13146. Hill, 1312-1314. The four volumes are uniformly bound in handsome antique style calf over marbled boards, with raised bands and original black spine labels. It is also an unusually clean set, with only occasional foxing and offsetting. 4 vols. $6500 |
| 81. | Patterson, Samuel. A NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES, SUFFERINGS AND PRIVATIONS OF SAMUEL PATTERSON, A NATIVE OF RHODE ISLAND... AND A PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION OF THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, &C. OF THE PEOPLE OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. Palmer, MA. 1817. 12mo. xii-144 pp. “This book is important for its descriptions of Fiji and Hawaii. Patterson visited Hawaii in 1805 and he was shipwrecked on Fiji in 1808. His work also relates to the coast of Guiana, Havana, Guadeloupe, California, the northwest coast of America, Australia and Canton.” - Hill 1315. The well-travelled Patterson also recounts voyages with Bainbridge aboard the frigate George Washington to Algiers in 1800-1802, and a slaving voyage in 1802. Howes notes that Patterson made three voyages to the Northwest coast. Howes P-122 (this edition “aa.”) Judd 141. Huntress 191C. Bound in original sheep with label, but cover is quite worn and scarred. Text pages evenly tanned. Some tears with no loss to text. Priced according to condition at $500 |
| 82. | (Perry, M. C.) SAILING DIRECTIONS AND NAUTICAL REMARKS: BY OFFICERS OF THE LATE U.S. NAVAL EXPEDITION TO JAPAN, UNDER THE COMMAND OF COMMODORE M.C. PERRY. Wash. 1857. b/w chart. 4to. 21, (18) pp. The sailing directions were reported mostly by Silas Bent and William Maury, who went on to compose many informative works about the Pacific and the South Pacific environs. The extra-large (36 x 40 inch) chart was composed by those two gentlemen as well. it shows one repair 6 inch tear, otherwise in excellent condition. Bound in original quarter-cloth over marbled boards, with label. Quite scarce in the trade and even more unusual in such excellent condition. $1250 |
| 83. | (Prentiss, Charles.) THE LIFE OF THE LATE GEN. WILLIAM EATON... Brookfield (MA) 1813. b/w frontis. 448 pp. Eaton was a bona fide eccentric who, in 1805, marched an army of Greeks and Arabs 600 miles across the Libyan desert to assist Hull in the capture of the town of Bomba. This action is recounted, along with his official correspondence and the related documents, but even better, “none of his frailties - vanity, arrogance, intemperance, connection with Burr’s conspiracy - are concealed.” - Howes P-570. Bound in original calf with label. Pages tanned, scattered foxing. $125 |
| 84. | Print. CLIPPER SHIP FLYING CLOUD A colored lithograph of the famous extreme clipper ship built by Donald McKay and launched in 1851. The print was issued by Nathaniel Currier in 1852, five years before his partnership with James Ives. Done by E. Brown after a painting by Buttersworth. Dimensions, title and dedication printed in the bottom margin. This is not a hand colored copy or one of the later restrikes issued in 1915, but is done from the original stone with tint stone coloring. Light breaks in the lettering suggest it may be a later state, issued following a record run by the Flying Cloud a few years after 1852. A clean image with deep, rich color and wide margins. Faint smudge on right margin, not touching image. Image size is approximately 23 1/2 x 19 inches. Matted and framed, it measures 34 x 28 inches. $3500 See Illustration |
| 85. | Print. TABULA ANEMOGRA PHICA SEU PYXIS NAUTICA. Amsterdam. n.d. (1650) Hand colored engraving. 2 folio sheets. A finely-engraved table of the winds, depicted by allegorical heads suspended in clouds blowing onto a central compass rose. The winds from the East are blown by dusky oriental figures. The winds from the west issue from a flowered head. Those from the north are white haired and bearded, and those from the South are innocent and young. The legend reads, “Amstelodami Apud Ioan Ianssonium” - identifying it as the work of Jan Jansson, a important Dutch cartographer and globe maker who published an edition of Ptolemy’s works in 1617, and the “Novus Atlas” in 1637. A copy of this rare engraving exists in the W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library at the University of Alabama. No other copies of this print are on the market. However, a probable copy done by Seutter in 1740 is being offered by an Italian dealer for 2500 Euro. Some tanning near the bottom border, but the image is generally clean and bright. The image size is approximately 21 1/2 x 17 inches, with wide borders all around. It is under glass in an old frame whose paint is beginning to chip $2500 See Illustration |
| 86. | Pyle, Howard. HOWARD PYLE’S BOOK OF PIRATES. NY. 1921 Color and b/w plates, ills. Folio. xvii, (1) 246 (1) pp. As Merle Johnson points out in his foreword, “Pirates... those cruel but picturesque sea wolves who once infested the Spanish Main, all live in present-day conceptions in great degree as drawn by the pen and pencil of Howard Pyle.” This is a visual treat, with some timeless yarns besides. Gosse p. 61. First edition, with “D-V” on copyright page. Jacket price clipped, owner’s name stamped in small letters on front pastedown, else a brilliant copy, Fine condition in Fine dust jacket, in original box. Box is chipped and worn. A scarce book in this condition. $300 |
| 87. | Raine, Herbert. SEVENTEEN PENCIL DRAWINGS OF THE GLOUCESTER WATERFRONT, 1929. In the summer of 1929, on the eve of the Great Depression, Canadian artist Herbert Raine took a sketching trip to Gloucester. Raine was an architect, an etcher, and a specialist in watercolors and etchings of great works of architecture. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy, and his work hung in museums and private collections. What he found in Gloucester, though different from his usual subject matter, must have delighted him. He commenced a methodical drawing tour, from Pavillion Beach through all the nooks and crannies of the inner harbor, to Rocky Neck, recording the water’s edge scenery in pencil drawings of such detail and finish that they seem more like etchings. Many are signed and identified by Raine, all are unmistakeably from this series. Sizes vary, but are in the 9 x 10 inch range. All are matted and shrink wrapped for protection. The lot $6500 See Illustration |
| 88. | Robinson, John and George Francis Dow. SAILING SHIPS OF NEW ENGLAND . 1607-1907. SERIES I, II AND III. Salem, MA 1922, 1924, 1928. Color fronts and b/w plates. 4to, various paginations. A standard and extremely useful reference set, with over 700 vessels pictured and identified from contemporary art work. Each of the volumes begins with a substantial essay or group of essays on early New England sailing ship technology. These are the limited editions, bound in vellum over boards. Vols. II and III were limited to 95 and 97 copies respectively. Vol. I was also the first book published by the Marine Research Society. It was issued in an edition of only 60 copies, making it especially scarce and desirable. With a 6 year span of publication dates the set is not often found intact. Some soiling to vellum spines, else VG 3 vols. $750 |
| 89. | Rochefort, Charles de. HISTOIRE NATURELLE DES ILES ANTILLES DE L'AMERIQUE... Lyon. 1667. b/w engraved plates, some folding. 12mo. 2 vols. (58) 566; (4) 680 pp. Third edition of a work first published in Rotterdam in 1658. Includes the discovery, settlement and history of the many islands of the region, their topography, natural resources, flora and fauna, natural resources and inhabitants. With a Caribbean vocabulary. Text in French. Copper plates include fish, birds, plants and insects native to the islands as well as 3 folding views. Cundall 1982. Cox II p. 205. Bound in original mottled calf with raised bands and gilt spine decorations. Chipping at tops of spines. Contents clean, with no foxing. 2 vols. $750 |
| 90. | Roding, Johann Heinrich. ALLGEMEINES WORTERBUCH DER MARINE. Hamburg and Leipzig. (1793-1798). b/w engraved plates, many folding. 4 vols. in 2. Various paginations, printed in two columns and numbered by column, then bound discontinuously by topic. This is the earliest and most important polyglot marine dictionary, the basis for all that followed. Also, “the first 287 pp. is a critical bibliography of marine literature, 1484-1793. Text lists non-Gernam equivalents under the German nautical term.” - Craig p. 22. Some pages are tanned, but the 115 remarkable plates are generally clean and fresh. In a nice antique German binding, half decorated calf over boards, with tan and green labels. Minor coverwear. rare to the market. $2750 See Illustration |
| 91. | Romme, (Nicholas Charles.) L'ART DE LA VOILURE. Paris. 1781. 9 copper engravings. Folio, 68 pp. plus plates. Beautiful French text on sail handling, maneuvering, and shipboard evolutions. With elaborate tables listing maneuvers and describing disposition of sails, etc. Others for anchoring. Several pages of tables devoted to blocks and tackles of various sorts, which relate to the engraved illustrations. Also narrative text, and a lengthy glossary of marine terms. This work provides detailed insight into French practices of the time. The plates, which illustrate the text, are superb (page size is over 17" x 11"). Polak 8371. First and only edition. Uncommon in the trade. Bound in decorated calf over marbled boards with some professional repair to backstrip. A beautiful copy of a rare book. $3000 |
| 92. | Romme, (Nicolas-Charles.) L’ART DE LA MARINE, OU PRINCIPES ET PRECEPTES-GENERAUX DE L’ART DE CONSTRUIRE, D’ARMER, DE MANOEUVRER ET DE CONDUIRE DES VAISSEAUX. La Rochelle. 1787. b/w folding engraved plates. 4to. (2), 587, (3) pp. MacDonald validates the lengthy title, calling this work an “encyclopedic account of (marine) architecture, masting, etc.” MacDonald 265. Polak 8372. Scott 407. Bound in antique mottled calf with gilt spine and label. Some cover wear, but a nice old binding. Highly detailed plates are clean. $1500 See Illustration |
| 93. | Ross, W.A. A YACHT VOYAGE TO NORWAY, DENMARK, AND SWEDEN. Lon. 1848. 2 vols. 359; 304 pp. The author and his friend, Lord R--, take a cruise in the R.Y.S. cutter Iris. They engage in more socializing and sightseeing than yachting, but this account is early and scarce. Toy 937. Bound in half green calf over marbled boards. Some rubbing to covers, else VG. $350 |
| 94. | Russell, John Scott. THE MODERN SYSTEM OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. Lon. (1865) b/w folding plates. 3 folio vols. xxxviii, 686 pp. plus folding frontis. and 167 plates, many folding double page. Russell was the naval architect responsible for the Great Eastern, and his biographer, George Emmerson, refers to The Modern System... as, “a Great Eastern of books. Doubtless the size of the volumes was dictated by the large scale of the many drawings... It is a monument to Russell’s mastery of his subject, his originality and his capacity as a teacher, a veritable Bible to the naval architects of his time.” Russell (1808-1882), discovered the wave of translation, and developed the wave-line system of ship building. He was an early advocate of iron-clad war- ships, and was fond of the American monitors. He built the Great Eastern (1854-57; launched in 1858), the largest vessel of its day, and the first to have a cellular double-bottom, cellular double upper deck, and longitudinal bulkheads - in short, the first iron ship built to iron design, and not simply an adaptation of wooden shipbuilding. Russell was a founding member of the Institute of Naval Architects in 1860. The Modern System includes detailed plates of monitors, American revolving turrets, yachts, an American river steamboat, merchant, passenger, and naval vessels, a Pacific Mail Steamer, 5 plates of an Australian iron screw passenger steamer, and 22 detailed plates of the Great Eastern. It is possibly the most important work on naval architecture of its time. NYPL List p. 317. See D.N.B. This is a very nice copy of a book often found in tatters because of its unwieldy size. Rebound in sturdy black leather over boards, with gilt title panel from original binding laid onto front cover of each volume. Presented to the Glasgow Philosophical Society by Dr. Francis Thomson, with their small oval stamp on title. Some plates dusty at folds, but cleanable. Plate 127 is omitted, but two plates numbered 4 and two numbered 19 give the requisite total of 167 plus large folding frontispiece. This is truly an impressive work, weighing in at over 150 pounds, with some plates extending beyond 6 feet. $4000 See Illustration |
| 95. | Scherzer, Karl. NARRATIVE OF THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE BY THE AUSTRIAN FRIGATE, “NOVARA”. Lon. n.d. b/w plate, illus., fldg. color map. l, 485 pp. Scherzer was one of the naturalists on the Novara expedition. With an introduction by naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. First volume in a series of three eventually issued. This part of the voyage covers the departure from Trieste to Gibraltar, Madeira, Rio de Janeiro, around the cape of Good Hope, the South Indian Ocean to Ceylon and Madras. Hill p. 565. Sabin 77620. Some edgewear else VG in a full-red leather prize binding with gilt-decorated spine, marbled edges. $250 |
| 96. | Senn, Nicholas. IN THE HEART OF THE ARCTICS. Chi. (1907) b/w plates. 336 pp. Senn was a doctor who served as surgeon on the “Erik,” the supply ship that accompanied Perry to Etah, Greenland in 1905. Arctic Bib. 15740. A VG-Fine copy of the first edition, INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR in 5 lines to “President H.B. Brown...” $225 |
| 97. | Simpson, George. NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD, DURING THE YEARS 1841 AND 1842. Lon. 1847. b/w frontis., fldg. map. 2 vol. xi, 438; vii, 469 pp. Simpson was governor of the Hudson’s Bay company, and this voyage took him through Canada via Halifax, Montreal, the Red River Settlement, Edmonton and Vancouver. He also spent time in Alaska, Siberia, Hawaii and California, all of which are written about here. Lada Mocarski holds this narrative in esteem, calling his remarks about Alaska “particularly valuable.” Cowan calls it, “A model record of travels by an exceedingly able man and keen observer.” He dedicated about 150 pages to his California travels. With an interesting inscription “Cyril Graham. 1869. When I went first to the great Red River of the north.” See Lada Mocarski 129. Cowan p. 588. Hill p. 274. Howes S-495 (aa). First edition of an important voyage. 2 vols in contemporary half calf over cloth, with labels. Light wear, some staining to frontispiece, else VG. $750 |
| 98. | Slafter, Edmund F. (ed.) VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN TO AMERICA. Bos. 1877. b/w plates. 162 pp. Icelandic sagas from the tenth and eleventh centuries, with historical evidence of where the Scandinavians landed in America. Published in a limited edition of 200 by the Prince Society. Sabin 81698. Howes S-540. Ex-lib with oval stamps on half title and titles, else Good in half-green morocco with raised bands and gilt-decorated spine. $150 |
| 99. | Slocum, Joshua SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD. NY. 1900. b/w ills. xvi, 294 pp. First edition of Slocum’s classic, with the original illustrations by Fogarty and Varian. Inscribed by Slocum, “As for myself, the wonderful sea charmed me from the first. Joshua Slocum onboard the Spray N. Falmouth August 26th, 1907.” See Toy. 462. Morris & Howland p. 126. This is a VG copy, with a splendid inscription. $2000 |
| 100. | Sparks, Jared. THE LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD, THE AMERICAN TRAVELER. Cambridge. 1828. xii, 325 pp. Ledyard accompanied Cook on his third voyage as a corporal of marines. He published an account of his voyage in 1783. This and his later adventures are the stuff of novels, though none has been written as far as I know. Sparks’ biography is the first book written about this fascinating character, and a scarce work in its own right. Howes S-818 (“aa”) First edition. Bound in original sheep, rebacked to match. $750 |