Marine atlas of Jamaica

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Leard's Pilot for Jamaica and the Windward Passages,

surveyed by order of Vice Admiral Affleck, and Published by Permission of The right Honorable the Lords of the Admiralty.

LEARD, John
Tower Hill,
Mount and Davidson, & W. Faden,
June, 1793.
Folio (584 by 420mm). Letterpress title and contents leaf listing 15 charts laid down on front cover. 14 engraved charts, of which 5 are double-page and or folding (without map V, first chart with short marginal tear, others with pale waterstain to lower margin crossing into the image). Contemporary half tan calf, marbled paper boards, printed paper label on the front cover (extremities worn, hinges weak).
12825

To scale:

notes:

notes:

Leard's very rare atlas of the detailed charts of the Jamaican costline and surrounding waters, with only one complete example known, in the Library of Congress, without the title-page.

This extensive maritime survey of Jamaica, was commissioned by Philip Affleck (died 1799), and he published and equally rare 115-page text to accompany the charts: "Sailing directions for the island of Jamaica and St. Domingue, or Hispaniola, and the windward passages; to be used ...

bibliography:

bibliography:

Phillips 5129

provenance:

provenance:

Provenance:
1. Early ownership inscription obscured at foot of label on front cover
2. Auguste Bocquet, "Captaine au long-cours, 1827", his ownership inscription on the front cover, and annotations on the first map. By styling himself Captain of the Long-Cours, Bocquet is claiming membership of an elite class of master mariner, who had undertaken the long course or long haul route around Cape Horn in pursuit of their trade. The title was not introduced until 1825, and it is possible that this rare pilot was acquired/captured by a French man-of-war during the Napoleonic wars.