NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Cotter - copy located
From: Courtney Thomas
Date: 2004 Sep 10, 18:12 -0500
From: Courtney Thomas
Date: 2004 Sep 10, 18:12 -0500
George, A pleasure to hear from you. I've recently been given "Spherical and Practical Astronomy" by Chauvenet [2 vols], which I've not yet read in. What are your thoughts on it ? Cordially, Courtney George Huxtable wrote: > Courtney Thomas asked, about Cotter's "A History of Nautical Astronomy"- > > >>There's one on abebooks.com for $199.50. >> >>May I ask why is this book(s) worth $200 ? >> > > The short answer is because the seller, presumably, thinks he can get it, > on account of the rarity and uniqueness of this book. > > I have asked on this list if members know of other works which explain > pre-Sumner navigation techniques without skipping the basic maths involved, > to meet my own interests and I guess those of a significant fraction of > Nav-L members > > Some suggestions have been- > > Hewson, JB, "A history of the practice of navigation", 1951 (who skips the > maths of the lunar). > > May, WE, "A history of marine navigation", Good on compasses, avoids all maths. > > Albuquerque, Luis de. "Astronomical Navigation" (Lisbon, 1988). Confines > itself to 15th-16th century Portuguese navigation, so latitude navigation > only. > > Forbes, Eric G, "The birth of navigation science", 1974. National Maritime > Museum pamphlet No.10. About the longitude problem, lunars, and > chronometers, but in words and pictures only. Lots of references. > > I have all of these on my shelves but have found that none does the job > that Cotter does, so to me, Cotter occupies a unique place been unafraid of > getting into the mathematical background. His book also contains a > remarkable list of references. > > He was a lecturer at a nautical college in Cardiff, Wales, which must have > held a first-class historical library in which to delve. > > But in my view he was working right at the limits of his understanding. In > this field he was quite on his own, as his son has recently confirmed to > me. It was before the days of email, so Cotter didn't have the chance, > which we now enjoy on Nav-l, to offer his ideas to the criticism and > argument of others. > > Perhaps as a result, his book is littered with technical errors, which is > my biggest (perhaps my only) criticism. Jan Kalivoda and I (with help from > Herbert Prinz) have assembled a web-page which lists points at which errors > lurk (or are suspected to lurk). It does not claim to be exhaustive, but > aims be useful to any reader or owner of Cotter's book. We recommend that > it be printed out and slipped between the pages. You can find it on- > > www.huxtable.u-net.com/cotter01.htm > > Cotter wrote several other books on nautical topics: "A history of the > navigator's sextant" (which is good), and standard texts, "The complete > coastal navigator" and, I think, on the Physical Geography of the Oceans, > which are so-so. So make sure you acquire the right Cotter. > > ============ > > Geoff Butt didn't give information for contacting Warsash Nautical > Bookshop. Warsash is is at the upper end of Portsmouth Harbour in the UK. > The phone number I have here is- > 01481 572384 or from outside UK +44 1481 572384. Sorry, but I don't have > their email address to hand. I can recommend them as good people to deal > with. Geoff didn't say how much they were asking for Cotter, but I bet it > was a lot less than $200! > > 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. > ================================================================ > > -- s/v Mutiny Rhodes Bounty II lying Oriental, NC WDB5619