ESPINOSA Y TELLO, Jose de

Idea de la Marina Inglesa. Sacada de la lectura de varios documentos originales y otras Noticias fidedignas, adquiridas en una visita a varios de los Arsenales y Establecim.tos Ingleses.

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28 Agosto 1814. Quarto, 128 unnumbered pages, manuscript title handcoloured, thick laid paper watermarked "Romani", elegant secretarial hand; bookplate of noted collector Jose Menendez Pidal y Alvarez; a beautiful copy in a presentation binding of bright crimson half morocco over green morocco boards, matching crimson morocco lozenge-shaped label to front board, gilt. A highly attractive manuscript presentation volume, written in an elegant secretarial hand, and authored by one of the last Spanish voyagers to the Pacific, the colleague of Malaspina, Jose de Espinosa y Tello. This lengthy account is based on his personal observations of the British navy, providing both an interesting insight into British maritime history, and a tangible link with the last flourish of Spanish voyages of exploration.

An informative note in Howgego explains that Espinosa y Tello was a Spanish naval officer and hydrographer. In 1787 he and three fellow officers drew up plans for a Spanish scientific voyage, only to be passed over in favour of the proposal of Alessandro Malaspina. Undeterred, Espinosa y Tello petitioned to join Malaspina, and although poor health prevented him from sailing on the first leg, he journeyed overland across Mexico to join his colleagues in Acapulco. The ensuing Pacific voyage has been called 'Spain's greatest scientific voyage of exploration to the South Seas' (Hill), and is especially notable for the time the two vessels spent searching for the Northwest Passage, and for its lengthy stays in New Zealand and Australia during 1793: they visited Port Jackson only five years after the first settlement.

On their return, Espinosa y Tello became the director of the Hydrographic Office in Madrid, but resigned all of his posts in 1808 because he did not recognise the authority of Bonaparte. This was the catalyst for this wonderful manuscript, as the so-called Patriotic Government despatched him to England to continue his cartographic research. The work begins with an overview of the early history of the British navy, but concentrates on his visits to British ports and arsenals. It includes precise and accurate information regarding the administration of the British navy at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, with sections, for instance, on the Navy Board and the Transport Board. He makes a particular study of conditions and ranks, no doubt intending to address reforms in the contemporary Spanish navy, and includes details such as the annual salary of the First Lord of the Admiralty (£5000), right through to that of the Admiralty Librarian (£500).

The work was considered so interesting and informative that it was later published in Madrid in 1821 at the Imprenta Nacional (also the publisher of Espinosa y Tello's great rarity of Pacific exploration, the Relacion del viage... of 1802). Even the published book is now a rarity, with only one copy listed on OCLC at Duke University Library, and a few otherwise recorded in Spanish institutions. Espinosa y Tello died in Spain in 1815, the year after this volume was prepared.

• AUD 14,250.00 > Andere Währungen
• Bestellnummer: 802_458

• Antiquariat: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)