Compendio do calculo da latitude no mar pela observação meridiana dos astros.

Lisbon, Na Officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, 1789.. First Edition. 4°, recent olive Oasis morocco, spine with raised bands in five compartments, gilt letter, marbled endpapers. Finely engraved vignettes on title-page and p. 1; 58 engraved diagrams in text (see below). Some minor staining and soiling. Overall clean and crisp, in very good to fine condition. (1 l.), 134 pp. *** FIRST EDITION. Gives rules for fixing one's position at sea by the stars, with sample diagrams and calculations. The title-page vignette shows Poseidon and an allegorical female flanking the Portuguese coat of arms; behind them are a row of columns topped by Muses and the ocean, with a tall ship approaching and seagulls. On the first page, the half-page vignette shows three putti holding navigational tools at the lower left; at the right are two tall ships and a castle (the Torre de Belém?); at the top of the semicircular frame is the sun. Outside the frame, two putti supply wind to move the ships. The 58 diagrams demonstrate how to calculate latitude at sea; each shows the zenith and the globe with meridians and compass directions, plus one other factor (e.g., the position of the sun, moon, or a star) that is required to calculate the latitude. Among the stars used are the North Star, Procyon (the brightest star of Canis Minor), Rigel (Orion constellation), Spica (Virgo constellation), Aldebaran (Taurus constellation), Castor (Gemini constellation).Mata (d. 1809) taught navigation in Lisbon and wrote several other handbooks for pilots.*** Not in Innocêncio; cf. V, 74-75. Ticknor Catalogue p. 521. Not located in Porbase. Not located in Jisc. NUC: NN; a copy with the date [1788] is cited at MB, but the Ticknor Catalog gives the date as 1789.