[Rarebooks] fa: SCILLY ISLES - REPORT OF THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL 1810 - INSCRIBED

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, October 15. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/yckfdew5

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

[Benjamin Tucker:] The Report of the Surveyor-General of the Duchy of Cornwall, to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, concerning the Obstacles, Facilities, and Expence, attending the Formation of a Safe and Capacious Roadstead within the Islands of Scilly. London: Printed by J. Walter…and sold by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones…1810. First edition. Softcover, 8vo (21 cm) in modern wraps with printed title label; [2] + 58 pp.

Inscribed ("from the Author") to an unidentifiable recipient on the title-page. Lacking the frontispiece(s); leaves toned, darker at the edges of the text block, corners a bit bumped, else clean and sound, firmly bound. Quite uncommon. The author, Benjamin Tucker (1762–1829), had been a warrant officer in the Royal Navy and the longtime secretary and right-hand man of Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, Earl of St. Vincent, before being appointed surveyor-general of the duchy of Cornwall in 1808. One of the appendices to the work is a letter to Tucker from fellow Cornishman Humphry Davy containing his analysis of "the water from the Scilly Islands which you were pleased to put into my hands."