Naval Architecture or the Rudiments and Rules of Ship Building... The Second Edition
London: for the Author and sold by J. Boydell, J. Dodsley, and J. Sewell, 1787. Second edition. Contemporary calf. Folio (37 by 24 cm). [6: engraved title; dedication], iv, 231, [1: blank], [4: index]. Contemporary polished calf (worn at corners, heavily rubbed at edges), expertly rebacked to style. Mild foxing at first few leaves; occasional small stains or smudes (mostly marginal), else a very good, amply-margined copy. Lacks the accompanying album of 14 plates.
Second edition of the first major work in the English language on naval architecture to appear since William Sutherland's The Ship-Builders Assistant (London, 1711). First published at London in 1781 and again in 1803, Naval Architecture was issued with an atlas comprising fourteen leaves of plates, illustrating various types of vessel; the concluding Glossary provides explanations of 240 technical terms in naval architecture, along with "useful observations." The naval architect and shipbuilder, Stalkartt Marmaduke (bap. 1750-1805) began his career as an apprentice shipwright at Deptford Royal Dockyard in Kent. From 1786 to 1794 Stalkartt operated his own small shipyard at Rotherhithe, downstream from Cuckhold's Point on the Thames. After becoming a founding member in 1791 of the Society for the Improvement of Naval Architecture, Stalkartt "enjoyed a degree of patronage from Charles, third Earl Stanhope, himself a keen inventor and amateur of ship design" (ODNB). Stalkartt was given the contract to build an experimental mechanically propelled vessel (based upon designs by Stanhope). Christened the Kent, the vessel was launched in 1793, but could never be made to work effectively. "Much more successful were the Post Office sailing packets, built to Stalkartt's own design at the instigation of Lord Walsingham (postmaster-general from 1787 to 1794)... Stalkartt completed the first three, the Carteret, Chesterfield, and Westmorland, early in 1792. They proved to be very fast, the Chesterfield making a round voyage between Falmouth and the West Indies in ten weeks; the Westmorland, even quicker, completed the trip in only seven" (ODNB). Stalkartt died in Calcutta in 1805, following up on proposals to build teak warships at Bombay on account of the growing shortage of good quality oak in Britain.
Provenance: Entries by one early owner at top margins title and beginning of main text; old entry in another hand at verso frontispiece; printed stamp of Surg. Capt. S. H. R. Price, Cavendish Road Southsea Hampshire at front pastedown. A recent hand has inscribed in blue ink "Admiral David Price - R. N. 1785" at the front blank endleaf and added the date "1781" (the date of the first edition) beneath the imprint; a recent pencil note at the endleaf reads "signed by Admiral Price." While a Rear-Admiral David Powell Price (1790-1854) was Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy in the Pacific from 1853, the dates in our copy don't support this attribution, even as a (clumsy) attempt by a later owner to ascribe a believed provenance. Very good-. Item #55710
References: ESTC T213992
Full title and imprint: Naval architecture or the rudiments and rules of Ship Building exemplified in a series of draughts and plans. With Observations tending to the further improvement of that important art. Dedicated by permission, to His Majesty The Second Edition... London. Printed for the author and sold by J. Boydell Cheapside, J. Dodsley Pall Mall & J. Sewell Cornhill. 1787.
Price: $750.00