Items 51-75
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51. Mackaness, George. (editor) FRESH LIGHT ON BLIGH... Sydney. 1953. b/w plates. 84 pp. “Being some unpublished correspondence of Captain William Bligh, R.N. and Lieutenant Francis Godolphin Bond, R.N. With Lt. Bond's manuscript notes made on the made on the voyage of ‘HMS Providence,’ 1791-1795.” #72 in a limited edition of 135 copies, numbered and signed by Mackaness. Bound in original printed red wrappers. VG $125 |
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52. Mackay, Andrew. THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF FINDING THE LONGITUDE AT SEA OR LAND...(BOUND WITH) TRIAL OF JOHN HAMILTON MOORE FOR PIRATING A CHART. Lon. 1793. b/w folding plates. 2 vols. (10), (iii-ix), (3), (1)-264; (8), (1)-151, (1), (1)-8 pp. First edition of this practical treatise on longitude by a teacher of navigation and East India Co. official. His method involves use of the chronometer, but Mackay remained doubtful of the general utility of these timepieces owning to their high cost and fragility. See Taylor, “Hanover,” pp. 317-318. Adams & Waters 2375. Worldcat shows about a dozen American institutions holding copies of this edition. It takes note of the interesting subscriber’s list (Joseph Banks among them), and the seven folding plates, but makes no mention of the eight page section bound in at the end of this copy - “Trial of John Hamilton Moore for Pirating a Chart.” I believe the pamphlet was not bound in other copies of Mackay’s book. It is an ephemeral production dated 1801 by Worldcat, and was probably originally issued in wrappers. At some time in the early 19th century, this copy was bound together with the two volumes of Mackay’s work. In the pamphlet, Moore, a popular writer on navigation, is accused by Heather & Co, another chart maker, of pirating a chart of Europe’s coast. They claim that Moore’s sloppy copying job ommitted certain hazards and made the chart dangerous to use. Norie, another chart maker, was one of those to testify against Moore. The last pages of the pamphlet the particular ommissions from Moore’s chart that might prove dangerous to mariners. A few pinholes in text with loss of a couple of letters. This copy is inscribed by a Lt. Keily, “aboard the Huddart at sea” 1804. Bound in fulkl calf with spine label. Bottom edge of first pages waterstained, else a clean copy. $1250 |
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53. Mackay, William. NARRATIVE OF THE SHIPWRECK OF THE JUNO ON THE COAST OF ARACAN IN THE YEAR MDCCXCV. (Edinburgh) 1892. 12mo. 95, (1) pp. Mackay was second mate on the Juno, which sailed from Rangoon for Madras in questionable shape. After a grounding and two gales she foundered, being kept afloat by her cargo of teakwood. “The crew and passengers got into the mizzen-top and fore-top, without food and water, and continued there until the ship grounded on the coast of Aracan, a part of Burma... There were fourteen survivors... including the captain’s wife and her maid, four passengers, Mackay’s boy and six lascars... Byron read this narrative at school and used it in writing his account of a shipwreck in Canto II of Don Juan.”—Huntress 128C. A VG copy, reprinted for the Clan McKay Society, with new notes and appendices. $125 |
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54. Manuscript. ACCOUNTS OF A NEW BEDFORD HOTEL OR INN, 1832-1842. Unpaginated. About 80 pp. manuscript entries. This book records the hiring of women as cooks, chambermaids, waitresses, washerwomen and parlor girls. Men are also recorded as waiters and workers. There are a number of Irish names, particularly among the women, and many of them recur, suggesting that they departed and were re-hired. In addition to payroll records, there are payments for decorations, kitchen utensils, fabrics as well as oysters, eels, potatoes, cranberries, fish, and similar foodstuffs. The establishment is unnamed, but there seems to be some connection to a Nathaniel Hathaway who may have been a manager or owner. Carry forwards from an earlier book are mentioned, as well as to a successor book, indicating the business was successful beyond the ten year span covered in this book. $175 |
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55. Manuscript. AGREEMENT FOR DIVIDING THE CATCH OF THE FISHING SCHOONER SAMUEL, OWNED BY ISAAC COLLYER, MARBLEHEAD, MA, 1790. Folio sheet filled out in manuscript both sides. The Samuel was a 68 ton schooner. In this contract Collyer names his crew, including Mr. George Parker (?) “Master or Skipper” and grants them all the fish they catch except “Seven fifteenths thereof to the benefit use and privilege of the aforesaid owner and Shoreman... and to said Owner three eights of the Bounty belonging... to said schooner.” Other named crew were to receive half shares. The contract further stipulates that the crew shall not “absent” themselves from the vessel without permission. They reckoned the season would be over near the end of November. Signed by the nine crewmen or their representatives (presumably for under age or illiterate crewmen. And interesting fisheries document, and scarce. $450 |
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56. Manuscript. CORRESPOPNDENCE OF TWO SEAFARING FAMILIES FROM MARTHA’S VINEYARD, INCLUDING SEVEN WHALING LETTERS. About seventy letters, primarily 1850s - 1870s, detailing the lives of two Vineyard families, Luce and Swift. I suspect these families were related by marriage, and that a close reading of the letters would revel the connection. The Luce correspondence is primarily to and from matriarch Martha Luce. It is rich in daily information - a stabbing on the island, typhus on Nantucket, her husband getting ready to sail on the bark Amelia (New Bedford whale ship) with a green crew, son Grafton out west, hoping to escape the draft in 1865, then getting drafted, etc. The Swift family letters are primarily to and from H.A. Swift, a whaleman and fisherman, and his sister, Sarah (Swift) Verrill. These carry the same level of local detail as the Luce letters, but include letters from brothers and sisters who moved to Rockland Maine and followed the coasting and fishing trades. The Swift letters are highlighted by seven whaling letters from H.A. Swift on an Atlantic whaling voyage under a tyrant named Captain Dexter. (According to Lund, this would be the Bark Mary Frazier, Edgartown, 1876.) These letters give a rich picture of sperm whaling and “humpbacking” in the Atlantic toward the end of the whaling industry’s classic phase. They include one of the finest whaling letters I’ve ever had. Listen to this, from H.A.Swift in the eastern Atlantic, reflecting in hia life after a rousing description of killing a 110 barrel sperm whale and then nearly getting killed by a 100 barrel sperm whale that took him on a Nantucket sleigh ride “out of sight of all the lights (from the ship)”: “We have bin 24 months and one day from home... Oh how I long for the time to come when I can once more feel a mother love and a sister gentle cair for as I think of Sarah I feel that she has had a sisters love for me. and dear mother when any thing was said or done that made hir cry the feeling of my heart was never known it could not be seen only by god. and as I think of my past life I think I was not what I ought to of bin. not to god a lone but to mother father sister and brother. for I feel that I often got angry too quick and often disobade you. These came to my mind and I say if god is willing I will live a sober life and return to you a good and a true sun.” He calculates (in precise detail) his earnings and expenses and reckons that he's made $98 in his more than two years on the voyage. Then he writes of the girl he left back home. “I am very sorry she did not write yet it is for the best and if she does not cair any thing for me I shall not have to meet hir as any thing more than a friend yet if all is rite with hir when I come home I can give the true love for still in my heart is that name..." Finally, he adds "I have not got any thing to bring home yet in the shape of scrimshaw but shall try to get some irons to give to my friends.” A wonderful lot. $2500 |
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57. Manuscript. DOCUMENT CONCERNING GOLD FOUND BY CAPT VERNON ON NO MAN’S LAND. MARTHA’S VINEYARD, 1755. Single manuscript sheet. An affidavit concerning the ownership of a “purse of Gold” with the contents carefully described. It was found by a Captain Fortisque Vernon on Nomans Land. “the 20 of February A. 1754.” The purse evidently belonged to a Thomas Davis and from this affidavit, sworn by one Jeremiah Mayhew, the widows of Davis and Vernon are trying to claim the purse. However, as noted by Pain Mayhew at the foot of the statement, neither, party showed up at the time of the hearing. The Superior Court was at Barnstable, and “Susannah Gray Administratrix of the Estate of Thos. is Deceasd & Fortisque Vernon Dept. the sd. Jeremiah Mayhew living at Chilmark and more than thirty Miles from sd place of Tyral and the sd Fortisque Vernon the adverie living & being at Boston and not Within Twenty Miles was not notifyed or present.” More compications ensure. A fascinating old document proving Vineyard squabbles are not a modern invention. With a page of Mayhew family history. $350 |
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58. Manuscript. FOUR INK AND WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS OF FISH DONE ON THE US EXPLORING EXPEDITION, HONDEN ISLAND, AUGUST 1839. These paintings are part of the body of work produced by the US Exploring Expedition under the command of Charles Wilkes. They were done in the Pacific in 1839, and in Washington in 1846. Two paintings are signed by Joseph Drayton, one of the artists on the Wilkes Expedition, one by W. H. Dougal, who was an engraver for the expedition, and one is signed, "W.M.W. pxt." (According to Wilkes' roster, a lieutenant W.M. Walker was in command of the Flying Fish, one of the Expedition's ships, at this time.) All are ink and watercolor, highly finished, with exquisite detail and descriptive notes in pencil. The two Drayton drawings, which measure roughly 11 x 7 1/4 inches, are marked "Honden Island, Augt. 1839." The one signed by Dougal, 12 x 7 inches, is dated "Nov. 1846." (It may actually have been done by Dougal in Washington "in conjunction with" Drayton. See Haskell p. 104.) The W.M.W. drawing, measuring 9 1/4 x 6 inches, is dated "Honden Island Augt. 27, 1839." According to Vol. I of Wilkes' "Narrative," the four-vessel squadron (Peacock, Vincennes, Flying Fish and Porpoise) made Honden Island in the Paumotu Group on August 19, 1839. They found it uninhabited but rich in wildlife. "Sharks... were so ravenous they bit at the oars... The number of birds on the island was incredible... The various snakes, the many-coloured fish, the great eels, enormous and voracious sharks, shells, large molluscs, spiders... all gave a novelty to the scene, that highly interested and delighted us. In the afternoon we returned on board, loaded with specimens." - p. 318. Presumably, these paintings were done from those specimens, for eventual inclusion in the reports that would comprise the planned twenty-four volumes of scientific results of the U.S. Exploring Expedition. Interestingly, Vol.XXI-XXII, the volumes on Ichthyology, overseen by Louis Agassiz, got caught up in the political distractions of the looming Civil War and were not funded by Congress. THEY WERE NEVER PUBLISHED. Furthermore, the lengthy manuscript for these volumes has been lost. Hence, we can be fairly certain that these drawings have never been published before. See Haskell pp. 15, 102-104 for information regarding the fate of Drayton and some of his other drawings. Needless to say, the thousands of artifacts collected and generated by the Wilkes Expedition have long since been consigned to various institutional collections. Items like this are quite rare in the trade. Additionally, these brilliantly rendered paintings have the cachet of being part of a lost archive. Four paintings $8500 |
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59. Manuscript LIST OF VESSELS BELONGING TO SALEM & BEVERLY, 1829. Folio. 10 pp. manuscript entries. Ships, Barques, Brigs, Schooners and Sloops.Arranged alphabetically in columns listing name, tonnage, when built, where built and owner. Obviously a contemporary listing, and a lovely thing. I’ve never seen its like. $250 |
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60. Manuscript. SEAMAN’S WILL. MARBLEHEAD MASS., 1821. Folio. One pp. Edward Scores, Marblehead, “being bound to Sea and knowing the dangers thereof as well as the uncertainty of life...” shares his estate equally with a brother and five sisters, An attractive document signed by Scores and three witnesses. With seal affixed. $200 |
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61. Manuscript. TREASURY DEPARTMENT. REVENUE OFFICE, JANUARY 5TH, 1795. Printed folio sheet, accomplished in manuscript. Addressed in manuscript to David Henly of Knoxville in the “Southwestern Territory” advising recipients of a change in the way Treasury funds were to be disbursed. Signed by Coxe, who was appointed commissioner by President Washington in June 30, 1792. $400 |
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62. Manuscript - Brig Rising States. COLLECTION OF 19 DOCUMENTS REGARDING THE WRECK AND SALVAGE OF THE BRIG RISING STATES, 1821. Documents include a letter of instruction to Captain Charles F. Chase, Master of the Rising States, (curiously, the insurance policy is made out to a Stephen B. Chase) the ship’s charter party, an abstract of the voyage, the ship’s insurance policy, copy of a survey, letters of agreement pertaining to salvage efforts to be performed by the schooner Marigallanto, various statements and letters to and from Captain and crew and the insurance company, and a beautifully printed and accomplished Instrument of Protest, notarized in the state of New York, with text translated from Spanish. The vessel was lost on the shoals of Guyana during a gale on April 21, 1821. When it was realized the brig was a loss, some of her cargo was transferred to the schooner Monserrat. She was hauled offshore and taken to Angostu, Venezuela, with the remainder of her cargo. An excellent series of papers regarding a previously undocumented American shipwreck. $1250 |
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63. Manuscript - Embargo Act of 1807. TWO AUTOGRAPH LETTERS, SIGNED, FROM JAMES SULLIVAN, GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1808 2 pp. manuscript. In the first letter the Selectmen of Newburyport state that they are having corn and flour imported from Virginia “for the use of the inhabitants of this part of the Commonwealth.” Signed by the four Selectmen. Beneath it, Sullivan adds his endorsement for the “Collectors in Virginia” - “The above Gentlemen who subscribed the above certificate are Selectmen of Newbury Port. I have no doubt of the truth of their above declaration.” He writes and signs it in his own hand. The second document is addressed to “the Collector of Baltimore” and it accomplishes much the same for flour bound for Boston. “This town with more than 60,000 people of other towns in this state depend for bread upon importations from the middle & Southern States.” In Sullivan’s hand. Two remarkable documents attesting to the difficulties raised by the Embargo Act. They are accompanied by a typescript of the second letter, and by two articles from the Salem Evening News of 1913 - “(Od)ious Embargo Act of Century Ago Recalled by Mr. Harris’ Old Document” and, “Special Permits for Food Stuffs.” The articles cite “Mobs, Riots and Convulsions” and note that “Governor’s Certification” was required for interstate transportation of food. The articles cite these two documents. Fascinating and rare. $750 |
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64. Manuscript - Instrument of Protest. PROTEST OF DAMAGE TO BRIG ATTORNEY, SOMERSET, MASS. DAVID CUMMINGS, MASTER, 1818. WITH ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS Folio, 3 1/2 pp. manuscript, plus 11 other documents, various sizes. A detailed account of the wreck of the brig Attorney on Absecon Beach, NJ, while enroute from Turks Island to Fall River, Mass., with a cargo of salt. She went aground in a gale on December 6, and “the inhabitants came & commenced striping her of her sails & rigging the Salt being lost in the bilge water.” Other documents include salvage expenses, sale at auction of salvaged material, insurance documents, and the final tally stating that the ship and cargo were valued at $3000, insured at $2000, and paid out $1894.66 after expenses. An excellent account of a shipwreck, of business practices in dealing with it, and of the activities of wreckers. The lot $350 |
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65. Marcus, Moses. THE MERCIES OF THE LORD: A SERMON PREACHED IN THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN NANTUCKET, MASS., ON SUNDAY THE TENTH OF JUNE, 1838, ON OCCASION OF THE LATE CONFLAGRATION IN THAT TOWN. NY. 1838. 35 pp. This is a Nantucket item I’ve never seen. Nor apparently, had Everett Crosby, because it does not appear in his “Nantucket in Print.” The first 24 pages are taken up with the usual religious talk, but the pamphlet closes with a ten page Appendix which gives a close account of a devastating fire that took place on Nantucket June 2, 1838. It started in a rope walk and quickly spread to candle houses and oil factories. Then the wind veered and pushed the flames up the wharves toward town. Fire crews used gunpowder to blow up four houses, a store and a workshop, and the inferno was finally contained and left to burn itself out. Happily no lives were lost, but hundreds of people were thrown out of work. This was the biggest fire the island had seen, and Marcus’ first hand account gives it real immediacy. S&S 51485. Worldcat shows only 5 institutions holding copies. Library blindstamp on title page, later wrappers. $350 |
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66. McDonald, Dan. THE CLYDE PUFFER. Newton Abbot. UK. 1977. b/w plates. 48 pp. A lovely book dedicated to these small steam-powered coasting craft. Because the locks on the Forth & Clyde canal were 70 feet long these vessels were 66 feet or less. “The early vessels of this type had non-condensing engines, the exhaust being turned into the funnel, and the resulting sound caused them to be termed puffers.” Vintage photos. VG $25 |
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67. Meares, John. VOYAGES MADE IN THE YEARS 1788 AND 1789, FROM CHINA TO THE NORTH COAST OF AMERICA. TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED, AN INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVEE. Lon. 1790. Twenty-eight b/w engraved plates and maps. 4to. vii, (12), xcv, (1), 372 (108) pp First edition of “one of the early and fundamental books on the Northwest coast of America... In addition to his voyages from China to America in 1788 and 1789, which form the principal part of this work, Captain Meares also describes his earlier voyage to the northwest coast from Bengal.” Lada-Mokarski 46. During his second voyage, Meares assembled the Northwest America, the first ship to be launched in northern waters. He explored the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Port Cox, and Port Effingham, and narrowly missed discovering the Columbia, which he observed but named Deception Bay. His discoveries were the basis for Britain’s claims on the northwest. Spain’s seizure of Meares’ ships and disputation of his claim brought about the famed Nootka Sound Controversy, which nearly resulted in war between the two countries. This account “also gives a full account of the Indian nations of Northwest America, describing their villages, languages, manners, and customs.” - Hill 1126. See also Howes, M469, Forbes 201 (one of Meares’ ships went to Hawaii), Streeter 3491. Bound in full mottled calf, blindstamped on front and back boards with raised bands, gilt tooling and spine label. Text clean, occasional mild tanning or offsetting to plates. Copies frequently appear with fewer plates and maps. This one has the folding plate of the Philippines not present in all copies. $9500 |
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68. (Merrill, Rufus. Publisher.) THE CHILD'S BOOK ABOUT WHALES. Concord. 1843. b/w ills. 32mo. 16 pp. A charming little juvenile about whaling, in immaculate condition. Pages 10-16 are an account of the sinking of the Essex, with a long, probably pirated, quote from Owen Chase’s 1821 account. Forster 307. VG-Fine in original printed wrappers. $200 |
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69. Murphey, Charles. A JOURNAL OF A WHALING VOYAGE ON BOARD SHIP DAUPHIN, OF NANTUCKET, COMPOSED BY CHARLES MURPHEY, 3D MATE, ON THE VOYAGE. Mattapoisett, MA. 1877. b/w cover and title page engravings. 39 pp. This work is notable for its recounting of the rescue of survivors from the whaleship Essex (which had been sunk by a whale) and for its unusual form. The cover title is "Thrilling Whaling Voyage Journal... in Poetry" and indeed the entire account is given in rhymed quatrains. "Dauphin, Captain Zimri Coffin, sailed on 4 Sept. 1820, returning in July 1823. Voyage included Galapagos and Hawaiian Islands (1822) Poem recounts the finding of boat from the Essex with two survivors aboard. An officer list also provided." - Forster. At least two editions of this work exist, but copies in the original pictorial wrappers are scarce. The wood engraved cover illustration depicts a whaleboat being upset by a whale. See Forbes 3193 who mentions that the poem records visits to Lahaina and Honolulu. Forster 71. Jenkins p. 129. A VG copy of an uncommon whaling book in its original illustrated wraps. $1500 |
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70. Murphy, John F. THIRTY-FOUR VIEWS OF BLOCK ISLAND. Bos. n.d. (ca. 1890) b/w halftone photo plates. Oblong 8vo. Unpaginated (35 pp.) Vintage photos of Block Island architecture, with a few scenic views. VG in original printed wraps. $45 |
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71. Musnik, Henry. LES FEMMES PIRATES. Paris. (1934) 221 pp. I have no French, but this looks to be a history of female pirates including Mary Read, Anne Bonney, Mistress Ching and Lai-Cho San. In any event, a vintage French paperback. $25 |
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72. New Bedford Mercury. ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT. New Bedford. 1907. b/w ills. Folio. 80 pp. This magazine was published to celebrate New Bedford’s centennial. It contains the sort of historical articles you might expect about the history of the newspaper, prominent writers, artists and citizens, early history and settlement, the whaling industry, whalemen and sea captains, the stone fleet, various mansions, the cotton industry, and a long extract from Moby Dick entitled “New Bedford as Melville Saw it,” with an essay about Melville and transcriptions of the actual inscriptions that Melville adapted - proving that, though the world had forgotten about Melville by 1907, at least one old whaling city still kept his memory alive. Hundreds of vintage photographic images. Front cover detached and chipped, but present. Text clean and securely bound. A wonderful resource. $50 |
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73. Nishimura, Shinji. THE HISAGO-BUNE OR CALABASH BOAT.. Tokyo. 1934. Duotone and b/w plates. v, 86, (2) pp. This is part of the series dedicated to “a study of the ancient ships of Japan.” It examines Japanese and Korean myths connected with calabashes, and moves into a botanical and linguistic study of these vessels before examining their use as floats and vessels in ancient and modern times. Inscribe to a professor Isakawa “with the author’s compliments.” VG in original printed boards. $250 |
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74. Perkins, Edward T. NA MOTU: OR, REEF-ROVINGS IN THE SOUTH SEAS. A NARRATIVE OF ADVENTURES AT THE HAWAIIAN, GEORGIAN AND SOCIETY ISLANDS... NY. 1854. tinted litho plates. xvi-456 pp. “The first of three parts of the book is entitled ‘The Whale-ship’ and relates specifically to whaling...” - Forster 81. Much of the rest of the book provides detailed information on Hawaii and other islands. Interestingly, Perkins claims to have spoken with a character from Melville’s “Omoo”. (See Leyda, “Melville Log” p. 474.) Furthermore, on pp. 196-197 he gives a good description of surfing which, I believe, is the first American description of this sport. This is the abridged edition, published the same year as the first, with three fewer plates. The text is identical, but the appendix has been removed. See Forbes 2044, 2045. Judd 143. Hunnewell p. 62. Hill 1325. Bound in original blind stamped cloth, showing some sunning and wear. Text clean. An important and scarce book. $250 |
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75. Photo. HENRY FORD AND BLUENOSE IN THE “INTERNATIONAL” FISHERMEN’S RACES, 1922. Two great schooners at the start of the third race in the 1922 event - there was no breeze for first two, and the fourth blew a gale that dismasted the Henry Ford, leading to the Bluenose’s victory that year. The photo measures 13 1/2 x 10 inches and is mounted on cardboard. A blindstamp in the lower left says, “Copyright Canada Commercial Photo Service, Halifax,” but the photo was, in fact, taken by the great Wallace MacAskill, who was an employee of theirs at the time. The print has some fly specs and a stain near the right margin, and the lower right corner is slightly chipped. Kinda funky, but still a wonderful image. All that’s needed is a mat and a frame! $65 |
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