item number |
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| 1.. | (Allard, Carel.) L’ART DE BATIR LES VAISSEAUX. Amsterdam. 1719. b/w engraved plates, some folding. Tall 8vo. Three volumes in one with separate title pages. 82; 94; 92-101; 24 pp. “Et d’en Perfectionner la Construction... avec la Coupe d’un Vaisseau de Premier Rang... Outre les Pavillons de Divers Etats. Le tout tire des meilleurs auteurs Hollandois, comme Witsen, van Eyk, Allard, &c.” First edition in French, and best edition of this work, which was first published in Holland in 1695. It gives the construction of vessels in full detail, with tools, navigational instruments and various types of vessels and ships. This work contains 21 engraved plates, some folding, 36 engravings in the text and 90 plates of shipping flags. “L’Art Batir” is in two parts with individual title pages, and the third section, entitled “Les Pavillions, ou Bannieres, que la plupart des Nations,” also has its own title page. However, the catchword at the end of the second part of “L’Art” shows that it was intended to be published with the first two works. Perforated library stamp on the title page of vol. I, else no other markings. A Fine copy rebound in modern half leather over marbled boards, with spine label. $4500 See Illustration |
| 2. | Allen, Edward L. PILOT LORE. FROM SAIL TO STEAM. (NY). 1922. b/w plates. 322 pp. “Historical sketches of the various interests identified with the development of the world’s greatest port” - New York, of course. Historical information on pilot boats and skippers, as well as merchant and shipping lines. VG. $125 |
| 3.. | Anon. “ARTE DE APAREJAR” (SPINE TITLE) A BOOK OF 124 ENGRAVED PLATES ILLUSTRATING 19TH CENTURY MARINE TECHNOLOGY. 4to. 124 plates. The legend at the bottom of each plate says, “Grabado en Paris por L. Durau.” but this is actually a re-engraving of the plates in Lever’s Sheet Anchor, for a Spanish edition of same entitled “Arte de Aparejar y Maniobras de los Buques” which appeared in 1842. (See Biblioteca Maritime Espanol, I, p. 205-6.) Darau was apparently a French artist of some note. His early 19th century engravings occasionally appear on eBay. He was an excellent engraver, and his versions of the Lever illustrations do not suffer in the slightest. Quite unusual, and a nice gathering of these lively and informative plates. Bound in full mottled calf with gilt spine lettering and decoration. $400 See Illustration |
| 4. | Anon. NOUVELLE BIBLIOTHEQUE DES VOYAGES ANCIENS ET MODERNES. Paris 1841. 100 b/w steel engravings. 8vo. 12 vols. Various paginations. Contenant la relation complete ou analysee du voyage de... Columbus, Cortez, Pisarro, Anson, Byron, Bougainville, James Cook (3 volumes), La Perouse, James Bruce, Levaillant, Mungo-Park, Burkhardt, Fraser, Lander, Basil Hall, Chardin, Ross, Freycinet, etc... Text in French. Introduction by Aug. Duponchel. 12 volumes, 100 steel engravings, 5 large folding color maps, some with small tears. Beautifully bound in 1/4 gilt decorated calf over marbled boards. A fine set. $1000 |
| 5.. | (Aubin, Nicholas) . DICTIONNAIRE DE MARINE. CONTENANT LES TERMES DE LA NAVIGATION ET DE L'ARCHITECTURE NAVALE... Amsterdam. 1736. b/w engraved plates. ills. 4to (16) 879 pp. Second expanded edition of the first French marine dictionary. A huge, picturesque undertaking, inspired by the great dictionaries of its time, on ship construction, naval architecture, ship types and components of ships, flags, mathematical instruments, woodworking tools and measures, duties of ships’ officers, etc. With engraved frontispiece and dedication page, 25 plates of which 8 are folding and 6 show a complement of 88 flags. Polak 225. Craig p. 8 (citing the 1722 Amsterdam ed.) Scott 235. Original full calf binding, bottom of spine chipped, corners bumped and rubbed, very minor browning in text, some folded plates have tears at gutter, overall a clean, tight copy. $3000 See Illustration |
| 6.. | (Barclay & Co. Publishers.) LITTLE CUBA: OR, CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE Phila. (1882) b/w plates. 94, (2) pp. “Being a true stroy of love, war and startling adventures. The massacre of young students! The men found on the American ship Virginics. (sic)..” In the tradition of the Female Marine and other cross dressers in naval lore, Little Cuba - aka Miss Minnie Dallas - follows her lover to Cuba and fights with Cuban rebels “in her Boy’s Disguise.” The “Virginics” misprinited in the title is in fact the Virginius, and this novel contains an account of Captain Fry and his crew of 37 men, unjustly executed for piracy by the Spanish in 1873. The account of Fry’s last hours is followed by more information on the Virginius. The entire affair was an international scandal. So, although this is fiction, it has historical content. Scarce. Not in Wright. Bound in illustrated wrappers, slight chipping, but in near Fine condition, especially for such an ephemeral item. $30 See Illustration |
| 7.. | Bellin, (Jacques Nicolas). DESCRIPTION GEOGRAPHIQUE DE LA GUYANE. Paris. 1763 Large 8vo. xiv, 294 pp. Bellin spent over 50 years at the French Hydrographic Service and was appointed the first “Ingenieur Hydrographe de la Marine.” With extra-illustrated title page, 20 maps, many of which fold, and 10 full page engravings. Sabin 4551. Bound in contemporary mottled calf lightly rubbed, rebacked in calf with original 18th century marbled endsheets, some very minor foxing in preliminaries, a fine copy with a clean text and plates. $3250 See Illustration |
| 8;.. | Blanckley, Thomas Riley. A NAVAL EXPOSITOR, SHEWING AND EXPLAINING THE WORDS AND TERMS OF ART BELONGING TO THE PARTS, QUALITIES, AND PROPORTIONS OF BUILDING, RIGGING, FURNISHING, & FITTING A SHIP FOR SEA... Lon. 1750. b/w engravings to. (6), 191, (1 blank) pp. First Edition of one of the most visually attractive books on marine technology. With 330 marginal engravings, and 3 larger engravings in text. The four-page list of subscribers includes many of England’s naval notables. Truly a superb dictionary and an accomplished piece of bookmaking. The marginal engravings are all finely detailed, and are accurately aligned with the accompanying text. Craig pp. 12-13. McDonald 247. Roeding I:118, calling it “above all splendidly printed, and the best English dictionary before Falconer.” Scott Coll. p. 261. Bound in full black morocco with gilt rulings and corner decorations, title page has some browning along edge, otherwise a fine, attractive copy of this most decorative marine dictionary. $3500 See Illustration |
| 9. | Blunt, Geo. W. THE WAY TO AVOID THE CENTRE OF OUR VIOLENT GALES. NY. 1866. b/w fldg. chart, ills. 31 pp. One of George Blunt’s last works, and scarce. See Burstyn, p. 90. This copy complete with compass-pointer device in front pocket and folding chart. A very nice copy in original blind stamped boards. $150 |
| 10.. | Bonnaterre, L'Abbe. CETOLOGIE. Paris. 1789. 4to. Taken from Pancoucke’s “Tableau Encyclopedique et Methodique des Trois Regnes de la Nature” which was inspired by Diderot’s Encyclopedia. A description of 28 species of whales. Engravings by Benard. Text in French. 12 plates, bound in 1/4 calf with paper boards, edges of text untrimmed. Scarce and visually appealing. $1350 See Illustration |
| 11. | Bougainville, Louis Antoine. A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. PERFORMED BY ORDER OF HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY, IN THE YEARS 1766, 1767, 1768 & 1769. Lon. 1772. b/w folding plates and charts. $to. xxviii, 476 pp. Translated from the French edition of 1771 by John Reinhold Forster (though Hill attributes the translation to his son, Georg). This was the first French expedition to sail around the world, going first to the Falklands, then through the Straits of Magellan to Tahiti and across the Pacific. Culturally, it had enormous importance to the French, inspiring LaPerouse and seeming to validate Rousseau’s concept of the noble savage. This is the first English edition which, as Hill notes, contains a vocabulary of the language of Tahiti. Sabin 6869. Hill 165. O’Reilly & Reitmann 285. Five folding charts, 1 folding plate. Bound in 3/4 calf over plain paper boards. Some light browing. $4500 |
| 12.. | (Bouguer, Pierre). DE LA MATURE DES VAISSEAUX. (BOUND WITH) MEDITATIONES SUPER PROBLEMATE NAUTICO (AND) A SECOND WORK ON RIGGING, DE LA MATURE... Paris. 1727-1728. b/w folding plates. 164, 48, 63 pp. Text in French. On the theory of masting vessels. With mathematical formulae, folding plates, and calculations. Polak, 1047, and Scott, 211. Full calf binding with gilt decorated spine, three separate, engraved title pages, marbled pastedowns. Three distinct works. Fine copies. $2000 See Illustration |
| 13. | Brown, James Temple. THE WHALE FISHERY AND ITS APPLIANCES. GPO Wash. 1883. Unpaginated. Catalog of a collection of hundreds of objects used in whaling assembled by the U.S. Fish Commission for the Great International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883. The descriptions of these objects are quite detailed and seek to place each object in the context of the development of whaling technology, giving patent numbers where applicable, date, and place of origin or maker, as well as physical dimensions. Also contains appendices on aboriginal whaling and whaling impliments of the Makah Indians of Cape Flattery. Jenkins p. 84, not citing this printing, which was apparently intended for distribution at the Fisheries Exhibition. Bound in original wrappers. Chip missing from lower fore edge of front wrapper, blind stamp on title page, else VG-Fine. Scarce. $200 |
| 14.. | Clerk, John. AN ESSAY ON NAVAL TACTICS, SYSTEMATICAL AND HISTORICAL... IN FOUR PARTS. Lon. 1797. XXII b/w engraved plates. 4to. ix, (5)-35; 29; 61 pp. Clerk was the first to systematize naval tactics with theories based on actual engagements. He drew on numerous historical examples, including several in the American Revolution: Arbuthnot off the Chesapeake (March 1781); Graves off the Chesapeake (September 1781); and Rodney and DeGrasse (1782). Nelson fought the Battle of Trafalgar by Clerk’s principles. The present work is something of an oddity. Part I of his essay was privately printed in 1782, and finally published in 1790. Parts II-IV - the volume offered here - were published seperately in 1797. All four parts were gathered and published together in 1804. So this is the first publication of parts II-IV, and is quite scarce compared to the 1804 gathering. See Smith, Navies of the American Revolution, 349 (citing only the 3rd edition of 1827). Adams & Waters 360. Bound in old full tree calf with “Charleston Library Society” in gold on the front board, ed morocco spine label, and raised bands with gilt rules. Light binding wear, but quite an attractive copy. $1500 See Illustration |
| 15.. | Cock, John. MAST MAKING MADE EASY. Lon. 1845. b/w folding plate. 51, (1) pp. This odd little book gives narrative instructions for making sailing ship masts and provides 7 tables giving dimensions of different masts on various vessels. The folding plate is, according to the author, an ingenious geometric means of “producing all the diameters from the deck to the head of all top masts and top gallant masts.” VG $250 See Illustration |
| 16. | Crosby Everett U. NANTUCKET IN PRINT. (Nantucket. 1946) b/w plates 225 pp. Still the essential resource for books about Nantucket and its history. It reprints selections of rare texts and provides a bibliography of printed materials. This is a first edition in Fine condition, in a lightly worn dust jacket. $125 |
| 17. | Damon, Samuel C., Editor and Publisher. THE FRIEND. VARIOUS ISSUES - 1850 COMPLETE, NUMBERS 1 AND 2 FOR 1851, AND NUMBERS 1-8, 1852. Honolulu. Various dates. The Friend began in the mid-1840s as a temperance and religious journal, but by this time it had come to concentrate on maritime and local news. As such it is a wonderful source for whaling, Pacific exploration and Hawaiian history. 23 issues total. removed from old bindings but in excellent condition. $750 |
| 18. | Diman, George Waters. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE WATERS DIMAN AND OF MY TRAVELS BY SEA AND LAND. Bristol, RI. 1896. b/w ills. 64 pp. “Diman shipped aboard the America of Bristol, RI... on a Pacific whaling cruise in Oct. 1840. Islands visited were Waytaho and Wompor, off the Marquesas... and other islands of the Society Isles, Pitcairn and Juan Fernandez. At Callao he became ill and was left at the hospital at Lima. He later rejoined the America in Hawaii.” —Forster, 40. A privately printed account, uncommon. Not in Jenkins. Light wear, VG. $200 |
| 19.. | Dudley, Dean. DIRECTORY AND REGISTER OF DANVERS, MARBLEHEAD, PEABODY, BEVERLY, MANCHESTER, ESSEX, WENHAM, TOPSFIELD. WITH BUSINESS DIRECTORIES, MAP &C. Bos. 1873. Area-colored folding map. b/w illustrated ads. 252, 60 pp. A useful source of information regarding waterfront and other businesses, but worth the price for the marvelous illustrated ads. Tear in map, but no loss. Some wear to spine ends, else a clean presentable copy of a scarce book. $150 See Illustration |
| 20. | Fellowes, Francken, Inglefield and Sutherland. LOSS OF THE LADY HOBART PACKET; OF THE HON. EAST INDIA COMPANY’S SHIP CABALVA; AND OF THE CENTAUR AND LITCHFIELD MEN OF WAR. Lon. 1824. 123 pp. Four narratives of shipwrecks reprinted together. According to Huntress the “Lady Hobart” sailed from Halifax June 22, 1803. A few days later she captured a French schooner and then struck an iceberg and sank. Cabalva is a story of “very bad discipline and very good luck”, as the survivors spent their time consuming beer, wine and brandy rescued from the wreck. Bound in contemporary tree calf with red morocco spine label. Front hinge split at bottom, minor scuffing. A Good copy. $250 |