NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Lecky's "Wrinkles" is online
From: Robert Eno
Date: 2006 Dec 04, 14:11 -0500
From: Robert Eno
Date: 2006 Dec 04, 14:11 -0500
Thanks for that Henry. You answered a question that has been confounding me for some time. I have the 15th edition of Lecky which is showing its age. It was published in 1917. I also have that 22nd edition which is in mint condition but nowhere does it indicate the publishing date. For all intents and purposes, it appears to be identical to the earlier versions with the exception that it does not have the sheets of tissue separating the star charts from the print. Lecky is one of my favourites. His irreverence strikes a chord with a smart alec like me (although I will never claim to possess even a smattering of his wisdom and intellect). I especially appreciate his witty comments with respect to the names of the constellations. Finally, in a shameless attempt to defend one of my earlier thread names which seemed to garner a bit of disapproval from a few quarters, I bet in private, he too, referred to the *&^%%$# moon! Robert ----- Original Message ----- From: halbothDate: Monday, December 4, 2006 1:21 pm Subject: [NavList 1820] Re: Lecky's "Wrinkles" is online > > To all Lecky contributors > > I have the 22nd Edition of "Wrinkles", which is a revised and enlarged > edition of 817 pages. I purchased this volume in 1943, according > to my > flyleaf annotation, and a cursory examination does not disclose > the actual > publication date. It is much revised and enlarged, as well as > brought up to > date with respect to time, the new Nautical Almanac (of whatever > date?),the gyro compass, etc., and proved a valuable resource to > me over the years. > Unless a collector of vintage books, it would seem appropriate to > search out > this edition for reference purposes. > > Regards, > > Henry > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Alexandre E Eremenko" > To: "NavList" > Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 6:31 PM > Subject: [NavList 1811] Re: Lecky's "Wrinkles" is online > > > > > > > > Dear Frank, > > > > Browsing the links I found that there are at least two > > SUBSTANTIALLY different versions of this book. > > One has 434 pages, another more than 800. > > The longer version is usually associated with > > the name Allingham, editor, and I found it as early as > > in 1910. > > Unfortunately, many sellers do not care to tell which edition > > they are selling. After some thought I decided to buy > > the 1919 expanded edition, rather than the original 1881 > > one. Of course it is possible that they did the same > > as they did to Bowditch, adding the new information and > > removing "out of date" parts. > > But this is impossible to know. > > > > I payed $20 for the 1919 expanded edition, and if I find > > that they removed much of the original I will consider > > buying an older one as well:-) > > > > With some difficulties I read few pages from the screen, and I share > > your opinion that the book is great. > > I just cite one random passage: > > > > "It is as easy to be deceived in purchasing a sextant > > as in buying a horse. > > The market is glutted with sextants MADE FOR SALE > > (Lecky's emphasis) Every pawnbroker's window in a seaport > > towen is half full of them. Some wendors even hold out the > > inducement in large type that their instruments are > > "free from error". > > :-) > > > > Alex > > > > On Sun, 3 Dec 2006, Frank Reed wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > "Amazon shows a paperback reprint for $24. Might be cheaper > than the > > > ink to print it yourself. " > > > > > > Well, if you really want a hardcopy, you may want to wait for > a 19th > > > century original. I've got one in front of me that I bought > for about > > > $18 a few years ago. They turn up on ebay and abebooks.com now and > > > then. In fact, I may even put mine on ebay, now that the > complete text > > > is on google books. Note that there is an important advantage to > > > reading it there. Hidden behind the images, there is an OCR text > > > version which can be searched, though since it's OCR text, > it's not > > > perfect. Where it says "search in this book", try typing > something like > > > "moon and weather". Sure enough, it finds page 175 and Lecky's > > > skeptical, yet forgiving, comments on this "popular delusion" > (which> > really was very common in the 19th century). > > > > > > -FER > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---