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- New Bedford
New Bedford, Fairhaven and Dartmouth Signal Book. 1853.
Taber, Augustus (Publisher).
Charles Taber & Co., ( 1853), New Bedford
94 pp. Hand-colored flag plates.
Price: $1750
Handcolored plates, on rectos of pages 5-85, show flags for each of the whaling vessels that sailed from this port. The book contains more than a dozen manuscript notations of changes in ownership, ship names, and vessel losses. With a full-page wood engraving of the Merchants’ and Ships’ Telegraphic Signals and instructions for use. This is followed by 5 pages listing every whaleship home ported in New Bedford, Fairhaven, Dartmouth, Mattapoisett, Sippican, and Wareham, and the 4-digit ID number for each vessel, for use with the telegraphic flag system. The final 2 pages contain ads for charts, books, and instruments sold by Taber. Taber had been publishing whaling directories periodically since 1834. All are scarce, since outdated copies would likely have been discarded in favor of newer ones. Worldcat shows only 3 libraries holding copies of this edition. Bound in quarter leather over boards, backstrip replaced to match
