Estate / Collection: Property from a Prominent Private Collection
[NAVIGATION]
Epitome or Book of Navigation. Deer Isle (Maine?), 1829. Manuscript record of instruction given (according to the title) by Mr. Wilson Carpenter to four young scholars (Abel Sylvester, Seth Webb, Jeremiah Thurlo and Jonathan Webb) in the house of Samuel Webb in the Winter of 1818. Full modern calf, the original front wrapper bound in. 13 x 7 1/2 inches (33 x 20 cm); 40 ff.; charming drawings throughout of sailing vessels, a specimen log of the Ship Pocohontas from Boston to Cadiz in 1818 etc. Many leaves defective with losses, tissue repairs etc., sold as-is.
A fair copy of lessons on seamanship, apparently made by Harriet Webb, a young woman belonging to a seafaring family of Deer Isle, Maine. Her name (and initials) appear on the cover and again on the verso of the penultimate leaf and (most importantly) on the final page of the notional logbook. The Samuel Webb named on the title-page lived in Deer Isle from 1772 until his death in 1837. The Webbs listed as participants in the original lessons were presumably sons of Samuel; this elegantly adorned copy seems to have been produced by an enterprising daughter of Webb eleven years later. Women frequently went to sea with their husbands in New England, especially at the height of the whaling industry, and it would clearly behoove such a woman to be competent in the ways of the sea.
Sold for $438
Estimated at $300 - $500
Includes Buyer's Premium
Estate / Collection: Property from a Prominent Private Collection
[NAVIGATION]
Epitome or Book of Navigation. Deer Isle (Maine?), 1829. Manuscript record of instruction given (according to the title) by Mr. Wilson Carpenter to four young scholars (Abel Sylvester, Seth Webb, Jeremiah Thurlo and Jonathan Webb) in the house of Samuel Webb in the Winter of 1818. Full modern calf, the original front wrapper bound in. 13 x 7 1/2 inches (33 x 20 cm); 40 ff.; charming drawings throughout of sailing vessels, a specimen log of the Ship Pocohontas from Boston to Cadiz in 1818 etc. Many leaves defective with losses, tissue repairs etc., sold as-is.
A fair copy of lessons on seamanship, apparently made by Harriet Webb, a young woman belonging to a seafaring family of Deer Isle, Maine. Her name (and initials) appear on the cover and again on the verso of the penultimate leaf and (most importantly) on the final page of the notional logbook. The Samuel Webb named on the title-page lived in Deer Isle from 1772 until his death in 1837. The Webbs listed as participants in the original lessons were presumably sons of Samuel; this elegantly adorned copy seems to have been produced by an enterprising daughter of Webb eleven years later. Women frequently went to sea with their husbands in New England, especially at the height of the whaling industry, and it would clearly behoove such a woman to be competent in the ways of the sea.
Auction: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps, May 11, 2023