TABLES OF DIFFERENCE OF LATITUDE AND DEPARTURE: CONSTRUCTED TO EVERY QUARTER OF A DEGREE OF THE QUADRANT, AND CONTINUED FROM ONE, TO THE DISTANCE OF ONE HUNDRED MILES OR CHAINS

Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank, 1785.. [1],90pp. Contemporary American wallet-style binding of reverse calf, tooled in blind. Much of the spine is perished, wallet flap detached but present, with attached leather tie. A few old stains in the upper portion of the beginning text, else quite clean internally. Contemporary ownership signature on titlepage, one instance of a contemporary manuscript correction in text. Bookplate of Frank Streeter on front pastedown. Very good. In a folding cloth clamshell box, spine gilt. The rare first edition of this early American surveying guide, of practical use for navigators as well. The entire text is comprised of intricately calculated tables giving departure and latitude coordinates. Evans and Rink attribute later editions to John Robertson. This first edition is not listed separately in Evans, but is a part of his record for Robert Gipson's A TREATISE OF PRACTICAL SURVEYING..., with which it was issued in 1785. Rink, however, correctly notes that Robertson's work has a separate titlepage, and it should be treated as a separate work in its own right. The present copy, in its wallet-style binding, makes it clear that Rink is correct and Evans wrong.

This copy is especially notable for its early provenance signature on the titlepage of "Robert Smith, 1789," who notes that he bought it in Philadelphia, and also for the fact that he or another early owner bound it separately in an American "wallet-style" binding, no doubt for practical use in the field or at sea. Its survival intact, in this early binding, is remarkable. ESTC W28026. RINK 2371. EVANS 19026 (ref).