(WAR OF 1812) Moore John Hamilton The New Practical Navigato

Sale 2344 - Lot 270

Price Realized: $ 480

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

ANNOTATIONS BY AN AMERICAN IMMIGRANT IMPRESSED INTO THE ROYAL NAVY (WAR OF 1812.) Moore, John Hamilton. The New Practical Navigator. 9 plates. 8vo, contemporary calf, worn, front board detached; contents foxed and worn, frontispiece defective and mounted on front pastedown, not collated but possibly missing leaves at end; numerous ownership inscriptions of David L. Browne, 1812-1823, and one of his son James M. Browne of Pittsburgh, 1852, inked library stamp on front pastedown. 13th edition. Dublin, 1800

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

This book is noteworthy mainly for its dramatic provenance. David Lyons Browne (1793-1852) was born in Ireland, and left to emigrate on an American ship in 1812. However, the ship was captured off Newfoundland by the HMS Bellerophon, and Browne was pressed into service briefly before being detained for three years at Old Perlican, a fishing village in Newfoundland. This Practical Navigator accompanied him during his ordeal, as shown by numerous marginal notes. Dated references to Newfoundland appear on the verso of the title page, page v, and on the back of plates facing 146, 256, and Oo2. On leaf Hh3, he has inscribed "I wish to God I was in Philadelphia," while he remarks on the Newfoundland climate on leaf Yy3: "Hark! O strange to tell, the ice is not yet gone all out of the Bay & this is the last day of June 1813."
The story of Browne's 1812 experiences is told in Durant's History of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, page 170, including a mention of this book: "He carried his flute and book of navigation with him to the frigate, where he was enrolled as a seaman before the mast."