Sale 137 Lot 16

(NAUTICAL) ROYAL NAVAL ACADEMY MANUSCRIPT
s.l., n.d. (c. 1800) Folio, quarter leather over marbled boards, five raised bands. Comprising approximately 420 pages of a handwritten transcription, presumably by a cadet of the Royal Naval Academy. With 16 pen and ink drawings of architectural and landscape vignettes, numerous diagrams, tables, and other illustrations, some outlined in color.

The four marine surveys include one of Kamtschatka and another of the Palmerston Islands. The days works section describes a voyage of the HMS Resolution in June of 1795. Drawings of landforms in the Navigation section are outlined in shades of green, along with a full-page map of the Atlantic, depicting the construction of a Plane Chart. Similar small hand-colored illustrations are included in the section pertaining to Marine Surveying, which includes three large full-page illustrations.

Additional topics include the following: arithmetic, geometry, plane trigonometry, geography, chronology, navigation, spherics, astronomy, and latitude. Text, in most cases, is transcribed from standard educational sources of the time, including James Atkinson's Epitome of the Art of Navigation, Charles Vyse's The Tutor's Guide, and George Fisher's Arithmetick.

Wear to boards; some pages reinforced at the hinge; some very minor offsetting; otherwise fine.

Estimate $ 1,500-2,500