[Rarebooks] fa: 1737 Gentleman's Magazine: DISCOVERY OF LONGITUDE - GEORGIA COLONY - ALDEBARAN &c.

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, October 13. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/m3hzuff

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle. Volume VII. For the Year 1737. Containing, I. Proceedings and Debates in the Senate of Lilliput. II. Essays, Controversial, Humorous and Satirical, Religious, Moral and Political... III. Dissertations and Letters from Correspondents. IV. Select Pieces of Poetry. V. A Chronicle of the most remarkable Transactions Foreign and Domestic. VI. Births, Marriages, Deaths, and Promotions. VII. The Prices of Stocks, Bill of Mortality, and Register of Books. London: Edw. Cave, jun. at St. John's Gate, [1737]. Twelve monthly issues (Jan.-Dec.), plus supplement, volume title, indices and "To the Reader." Tall, thick 8vo (21 cm), untrimmed in original or early blue boards; 830 + 16 pp. [pagination erratic, as issued]; engraved frontispiece ("A Map of the Garden of Eden"), charts and tables, diagrams, musical notation.

Spine perished, rear board nearly detached, therefore the binding is fragile: text block held by the cords, a few leaves loose (including the frontispiece); a few other leaves misbound at the end of the June number, but all leaves appear to be present (with the exception of the December title-page, which has gone missing); intermittent browning and spotting to the text, wear and darkening to the untrimmed edges, a few edge-tears. Front paste-down with the engraved armorial bookplate of J. Comyns, Wood [Devon].

Contents include:

	** Schemes for the Discovery of the LONGITUDE, with several related articles. In 1714, the British government offered a prize of £20,000 to "anyone who could invent a clock capable of keeping accurate time at sea. In 1730, John Harrison, a Yorkshire carpenter, submitted his first sea chronometer, and over the years he greatly improved the design and stability of his timepieces. In 1759, he produced a chronometer that was accurate to one-tenth of a second per day. This won him the prize, although it took the Government some years to pay him in full. Here, two competitors – one from Exeter, the other from Dublin – claim discoveries towards 'the important secret of longitude'" ("The Gentleman's Magazine: the 18th-Century Answer to Google"; Special Collections, University of Otago Library, New Zealand, 2012).
	** Argument for the Colony of GEORGIA; its dangerous Condition;... Spaniards Pretensions to it not justly founded.
	** On the ill State of our SUGAR COLONIES, with regard to their Trade and Slaves, &c.
	** Poems by a variety of early 18th-century WOMEN WRITERS, including Jane Hughes Brereton, Charlotte Brereton, Constantia Grierson, Catharine Cockburn, Elizabeth Carter, Elizabeth Rowe, Mary Masters.
	** Poetry by RICHARD SAVAGE, including "The Bastard: A Poem inscrib'd with all due reverence to Mrs. Bret, once Countess of Macclesfield."
	** "The Virtuoso; in Imitation of Spencer's Style and Stanzas", "Ambition and Content; a Fable", and "The Poet; a Rhapsody" by MARK AKENSIDE.
	** "On the Report of a Wooden Bridge" and "To his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, An Ode" by JAMES THOMSON.
	** Several essays on QUAKERS and Tythes [Tithes].
	** Numerous articles on the EDINBURGH RIOT.
	** Observation of the ECLIPSE Feb. 8.
	** Occultation of ALDEBARAN by the Moon.
	** "A Vindication of Sir ISAAC NEWTON, concerning the Density which he has given to the Sun; which Mr Facio [Nicolas Faccio] in his Theory has objected to as very erroneous" by Thomas Simpson, with "Mr Facio's Answer to Mr [Thomas] Simpson", and "Mr Simpson's Answer to Mr Facio".
	** "On the Operation perform'd on her Majesty [Queen Caroline, for a ruptured appendix]. In Imitation of Martial's Casta Suo, &c."
	** "On the Death of her Sacred Majesty Queen Caroline."
	** and much, much more…