1807 – American Practical Navigator | United States Sailing Instruction | Maps

Nathaniel Bowditch shipped out in 1795 on the first of five voyages to the East Indies. He spent his time pouring over the standard navigational tables prepared by John Hamilton Moore of England. After finding over 8,000 errors in Morris’s work on navigation he produced his own title on the subject New American Practical Navigator. Howes calls this the “First accurate navigator’s guide.” This volume also includes information on navigational law, measurement, and terminology serving as an encyclopedia of navigation becoming a handbook on oceanography and meteorology and containing useful tables and a maritime glossary.

“The first complete epitome of practical navigation for the common man” -Grolier American.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The New American Practical Navigator: Being an Epitome of Navigation; Containing All the Tables Necessary to be Used with the Nautical Almanac, in Determining the Latitude, and the Longitude by Lunar Observations
• Author(s): Nathaniel Bowditch
• Publisher: Newburyport: Printed by Edmund M. Blunt
• Edition: 2nd Edition. 1807.
• Binding: Full leather
• Format: (8vo), single volume
• Size:  9.25 in × 5.5 in
• Collation: [i–v], vi–xiv, 15–679 pp
• Illustrations: 11 engravings, including 2 maps
• Contents Include:
  • Lunar distance calculations
  • Tables for determining latitude and longitude
  • Nautical and legal definitions
  • Glossary and navigation law references

• Provenance: Handwritten signature of [K.] W. Livingston, Middleburg, NC
• Reference(s): Howes B 657

Condition:

Very Good. Bound in full leather with visible water ring to the front cover. Binding tight and text block secure. Moderate age wear to corners and edges. Internally clean with all engravings and maps present.

Why Collect This?

• Early edition foundational to American navigational practice
• Engraved plates including two navigational maps
• Important for collectors of early American science, oceanography, and naval history

Item Number: #29969