Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2009 Issue
The Laurence Urdang Collection of Maritime Books from the Ten Pound Island Book Co.
Henry Manwayring's Seaman's Dictionary.
Item 64 is a copy of the second edition of Cook's second voyage. The title is A Voyage Toward the South Pole, and Round the World. Performed in His Majesty's Ships the Resolution and Adventure, in the Years 1772...1775. The second edition was published in 1777, same as the first, and is virtually identical. This was an exploration of major importance as it disproved the long and widely held theory that there was a massive polar continent to the south of the known continents. It was also on this voyage that Tahiti, Easter Island, and the Marquesas were discovered. Additionally, this was the voyage in which Cook brought back an island native, Omai, who would become the rage of London. $4,000.
Here is a book the lexicographer Urdang would have appreciated: The Sea-Man's Dictionary: or, an Exposition and Demonstration of All the Parts and Things Belonging to a Shippe. That spelling of "ship" tells you that this is a very old book. Henry Manwayring's work on seafaring was published in 1644. The author began his career as a pirate, but later settled down to a respectable career, and this book about seafaring terminology was the best for over a century. Item 151. $10,000.
The Ten Pound Island Book Company may be reached at 978-283-5299 or tenpound@tenpound.com. Their website is found at www.tenpound.com.
You will find many of Ten Pound Island's books listed in "Books For Sale" on this site. Click here.
