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- A Treatise on Practical Seamanship…
A Treatise on Practical Seamanship…
Hutchinson, William.
for the Author, ( 1777), (Liverpool)
4to, 26 cm. xiv, 213 pp. 10 b/w engraved plates, folding chart of Liverpool Harbor.
Price: $1500
Rare first edition of an important and influential book on seamanship. According to the DNB Hutchinson was a life-long seaman, having first hand experience in most branches of the maritime trades. He was on an East Indiaman in 1738, in command of a privateer in 1747 and in the West Indies in 1750. In 1760 he was he was appointed a dock-master at Liverpool. This work, his first, is concerned with all aspects of rigging, loading, steering and sailing a ship, as well as more general aspects of nautical science. Adams & Waters 2179. Scott 445 (4th edition). This copy comes with a signed sales receipt from noted New York bookseller John Fleming. On the verso is a note from the librarian who ultimately owned the book, stating that, since he was “persona non grata” with Fleming, he obtained this copy by straw purchase. The note also outlines the librarian’s prosecution of two “priests” who stole rare books from his library and were sent to jail. Bound in full contemporary calf, spine mostly perished. Text evenly tanned; old water stains on the edges of the Liverpool chart.
