The Arethusa. A Naval Story.
Chamier, Capt.(Frederick).
E.L. Carey and A. Hart, ( 1937), Philadelphia
2 vols.(2 ads), 224; (11)-200 pp.
Price: $350
Rare American edition of a fairly scarce English sea tale. Chamier, an officer in the Royal Navy, retired in 1833 and, much like his colleague Marryat, took up the pen. He actually served aboard the “Arethusa” fighting the slave trade, so there is a factual backbone to this tale. Popular in the 19th century, he and his nautical fiction have long since faded into obscurity. Worldcat shows 11 libraries holding copies of the Kirtas reprint. The New York Historical Society Library supposedly has a copy of this Philadelphia original, but the Worldcat listing for that holding shows only the first volume. Two volumes, bound in original cloth over boards with spine labels, which are chipped. Pages tanned with some foxing, sewing weak but holding.