ROBERTSON, John

The Elements of Navigation; containing the Theory and Practice....

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J. Nourse London, 1764. Two volumes, large octavo, 11 folding plates and five folding maps (two celestial), illustrated, with some neat contemporary marginalia; a little dusted but a very handsome set in contemporary sprinkled calf, hinges worn but still strong. A fine set of the rare second edition of this indispensable treatise, and the standard textbook on navigation for the eighteenth-century British navy. Robertson's Elements of Navigation was studied and improved by everyone from Carteret to Matthew Flinders, and undoubtedly by Cook as well.

Robertson had a long and important career, and was involved in many practical and theoretical developments in navigation and mapping. In 1747 he was appointed assistant to James Hodgson at the Royal Mathematical School at Christ's Hospital in the City of London, and two decades later was appointed clerk and librarian to the Royal Society. He was also involved in trialling Harrison's chronometers. First published in 1754, this work was considered important enough that it was updated and republished every decade or so. That this was a standard reference work is apparent from the fact that the fourth edition (1780) was revised and updated by William Wales, the astronomer and member of Captain Cook's second voyage.

Most of the engravings are by the famous London engraver Thomas Jefferys, who produced many important eighteenth-century maps. Attractively, in a standard naval reference work of its day, the double-globe map of the world is by Basire, perhaps better known for his engraved portrait of Captain Cook. Basire's map of the world shows tropical currents and winds, and depicts Terra Australis/New Holland in the years before Cook's first voyage. Here, Torres Strait is not shown, as it was not known in the English tradition until 1769.This edition was improved by the addition of an excellent dissertation on the rise and progress of modern navigation by Dr James Wilson.

Perhaps attesting to this particular edition's use and importance, this is a surprisingly scarce work: when Helen Wallis edited the journals of Carteret she had to resort to using the later third edition, rather than the second which actually travelled with Carteret, as the second 'is rare and no copy is in the national collections in Great Britain' (Helen Wallis, Carteret's Voyage, vol. I, p. 144). A copy is now listed at Cambridge.

• AUD 5,450.00 > 其他币种价格
• 订书号：: 706_026

• 书商: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)