Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2014 Issue

Maritime Books and Images from the Ten Pound Island Book Company

Maritime books and images.

Maritime books and images.

The Ten Pound Island Book Company recently released their Maritime List 225 – Old, Rare, and Short. The contextual meaning of “old” and “rare” for this catalogue is obvious, while the “short” refers to this being a relatively concise collection of material. As one would expect from a maritime list, as well as from a bookseller located in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the works pertain to the sea. There are books about voyages, ships, shipbuilding, pirates, mutinies and the like. There are also numerous images, such as old photographs of Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, and a panorama of Gloucester in 1905. Here are a few more items to be found in this latest maritime list.

 

We will start with The Arraignment, Tryal, and Condemnation of Captain William Kidd, for Murther and Piracy... While technically just about the trial, the testimony given provides much of the information we have on Kidd's career. Kidd was convicted of piracy, along with killing one of his crewmen who was not properly respectful, but not everyone believes he really was a pirate. Kidd played around the edges of piracy. He was originally hired by the English as a privateer, sort of legalized piracy. He was permitted to attack French ships (that was always acceptable to the English) and attack pirates. It seems that maybe he extended that list when he failed to find enough clearly acceptable targets to pay for the voyage. Kidd maintained his innocence, proclaiming he was “the innocentest person of them all.” Some historians share that view, but whatever the case, he became something of an embarrassment to various officials and it was decided to make a lesson of him. He was hung from the gallows. Item 2, published anonymously in 1701. Priced at $8,500.

 

This next item is another pirate tale, but a more gruesome one: Dying Declaration of Nicholas Fernandez, who with Nine Others were Executed in front of Cadiz Harbour, December 29, 1829. Fernandez was a Spanish pirate, by way of Cuba, who participated in some of the more barbaric of killings if his account is to be believed. These pirates not only stole and killed, but made sure their victims' deaths were as horrible as possible. They got amusement from it. Fernandez at first was appalled and suffered from a guilty conscience, but soon overcame such feelings through the use of alcohol. Exactly how much of this story is accurate is unclear. This was a temperance tract published in 1830, with a section on the “fatal effects” of alcohol. One wonders whether it was embellished to make a point. Item 3. $2,500.

 

Next we have an account of one of the pioneering voyages to the American Northwest: Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, from China to the North West Coast of America. Despite the title, John Mears' account includes his earlier voyage from Calcutta in 1786-1787. There were several voyages to the Northwest during the 1780s, starting with that of Captain Cook. This one was one of the most important. Mears tells us about various native tribes and other natural history data. However, the voyage was particularly notable as it served to generate the British claim to owning Oregon. This territory would be disputed with the United States until a treaty in the 1840's. It was also the source of the Nootka Controversy, which almost brought Britain to war with Spain, and eventually served as the impetus to Spain's exit from the area. Item 27. $8,500.

 

There is likely no better known seafaring tale than this one: A Narrative of the Mutiny, on board His Majesty's Ship Bounty. The author, naturally enough, was Captain William Bligh, sent off to Tahiti to gather breadfruit trees to plant in the Caribbean. It didn't turn out that way. A group of his men mutinied, forcing Bligh and those who remained loyal onto a small boat. So began a harrowing 3,500-mile journey, a masterwork of seamanship by the Captain. Eventually, they made it to Batavia (now Jakarta). Once Bligh made his way back to England, he quickly began writing this book. His reputation was at stake. He needed to tell his side of the story. Bligh would publish a more detailed account two years later, but this 1790 book was his first description of the most famous mutiny on the high seas. Item 8. $8,500.

 

Item 21 is the first American book on shipbuilding: The Practical Ship-Builder, published in 1839. The author, L. M'Kay (Lauchlan McKay), was the brother of a noted clipper ship builder of the day. The book provides details about shipbuilding techniques, a glossary of terms, and seven folding plates of illustrations. $8,500.

 

Ten Pound Island Book Company may be reached at 978-283-5299 or tenpound@tenpound.com. Their website is www.tenpound.com

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Buzz Aldrin's FLOWN Apollo 11 Crew-Signed NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Cover. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Lunar Surface Flown Mission Emblem Presented to Tom Stafford by John Young. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Albert Einstein. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein."), to Ann Morrisett, Affirming a Pacifist's Right to Self-Defense, March 21, 1952. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Operating and Maintenance Manual for the BINAC Binary Automatic Computer Built for Northrop Aircraft Corporation. Philadelphia, 1949. $30,000 to $50,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Steve Jobs Apple Computer Business Card, c. 1977. $5,000 to $8,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Extensive Chronology of Spacecraft From Apollo to Skylab, Signed by a Member of Every Crewed Apollo Flight and the Commanders of Each Skylab Mission. $5,000 to $8,000.
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  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800

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