NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Chauvenet
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2004 Sep 17, 09:35 +0100
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2004 Sep 17, 09:35 +0100
Yesterday I wrote- >I've just discovered an interesting 20-page pamphlet by Chauvenet, >"Astronomy, comprising suggestions to U.S. naval officers, bearing on >points connected with nautical astronomy, astronomical geography, and >general astronomy", dated 1868. and Dan Allen asked- "Where did you discover this pamphlet?" It was in a catalogue of secondhand maritime books that I get sent regularly by McLaren Books, of Glasgow. It cost me ?12 (about $20). It seems never to have been properly bound, just the 20 pages (1 to 20) stitched together, and a modern paper cover has then been glued over the binding to make it look a bit more respectable. There's no sign of it being pages extracted from a larger work. It came from the Government Printing Office, in Washington. I speculate that possibly, these Navy Scientific Papers were not available to the public as a publication, but printed for issue to US Navy officers, perhaps those graduating through college. Alex Eremenko usefully tells us that Chauvenet had previously been head of the shore Naval School in Philadelphia, so he knew what was needed.. It would be interesting to learn more about those Navy Scientific Papers. If we can judge them by No 1, they were of very high quality. George. ================================================================ contact George Huxtable by email at george@huxtable.u-net.com, by phone at 01865 820222 (from outside UK, +44 1865 820222), or by mail at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. ================================================================