Ten Pound Island Book Company

Old, Rare And Out of Print Books, Manuscripts And Charts Pertaining To The Sea

The American Coast Pilot.

By

Item #51233
The American Coast Pilot.
Furlong, Capt. Lawrence.
Edmund M. Blunt, ( (1812)), New York
24 cm. xiv, (ii), (17)-311. 63, (9 - ads) pp. 24 cm. xiv, (ii), (17)-311. 63, (9 - ads) pp. Fifteen b/w charts, five of which are folding. Three full-page publisher’s ads featuring frontal views of the new Blunt publishing house on Water Street in New York.
Price: $900

Seventh edition, the last to carry the name of Furlong as the author, and first to be printed in New York by Blunt. This edition is prized by collectors for its illustrated ads. Indeed, these ads have been cut out of most copies and sold as individual prints. Campbell, p. 104 remarks, “These pages, and the eight-page section of advertisements will be found lacking in almost all copies.” Another notable feature is Blunt’s “Note to the Editor” in which he slams the Government’s Embargo Act, sarcastically reporting that, since the instructions required for printing new Customs House forms have not yet been made available, their publication “must be postponed till the present deranged state of our (not commerce, for that has again retired from ‘the tempestuous Sea of Liberty,’) commercial affairs take a more favorable ‘attitude.’ When that long wished for moment arrives, a correct list will be published in a pamphlet…” – An interesting feature, considering that this edition was published in 1812, and the Embargo Act had been repealed in 1809. Blunt must have been mad as hell. He also quotes three pages of laws regarding slaves and their transportation. (Spoiler alert, it’s a no-no.) See Campbell 7. Howes F-421. Burstyn p. 118. This copy also has some interesting manuscript additions. It belonged to Captain Whitney of the merchant ship “John” – which has a potentially interesting history of its own – with vessels of that name having served as slavers and privateers in prior years. An extended manuscript note on the front blank documents a 42-day trip from Boston to England and the Netherlands in May 1816 with a cargo of Coffee, Sugar and Cotton. On January of that year, according to a presentation inscription on the same page, he gave the book to Joseph Tappan Jr., who must have also been on the voyage. Tappan has signed the title page. With fifteen charts as called for. All the charts and much of the text show foxing and staining. Happily, the three full-page ads are clean and in very good condition. Bound in full tree calf with spine label. Hinges cracked but holding. Spine ends chipped away. Very difficult to find with all the graphics in place.