[Rarebooks] fa: MEMOIRS OF TRANSACTIONS AT SEA DURING THE WAR WITH FRANCE 1703 - Josiah Burchett

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, April 28. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/ceh92z7

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


Josiah Burchett: Memoirs of Transactions at Sea during the War with France; Beginning in 1688, and Ending in 1697. London: Sold by John Nutt near Stationers-hall, 1703. First edition (variant); 8vo (19.5 cm) rebound in recent quarter calf and marbled boards, spine with raised bands and gilt-lettered spine label; [46] + 408 pp. ESTC T171979.

Josiah Burchett (1666?-1746) had served as a clerk under Samuel Pepys and later succeeded him as Secretary of the Admiralty, a post he held for nearly fifty years. For this history of the naval events of the Nine Years' War (a.k.a. the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the English Succession), Burchett relied on official Admiralty reports as well as his own experiences serving aboard Admiral-of-the-Fleet Russell's flagship Britannia at the Battle of Harfleur.

Title-page and the succeeding two leaves chipped slightly at the upper corner, early owner's signature on first leaf of text, some darkening/dust-soiling to the top edge of the text block, text block cracked a bit at about the mid-point, a few scattered small spots and stains; otherwise quite clean and bright, securely bound. Deaccessioned long ago from the British Museum, with their classic inkstamp on the verso of the title-page, and stamped in red: "1831 Duplicate For Sale."