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This atlas was sold in Loeb-Larocque auction of 10 november, 2006, lot 10.
Atlas/ Navigation. SELLER, J. [London, 1689] The English Pilot, The Fourth Book Describing the Sea-Coasts;
Capes, Head-Lands, Rivers, Bays, Roads, Havens, Harbours, Streights,
Islands, Depts, Rocks, Shoals, Sands, Banks, and Dangers from the
River Amazons to New-found-Land; with all the West-India Navigation,
and the Islands therein, as Cuba, Hispagniola, Jamaica, Barbados,
Porto Rico, and the rest of the Caribbe Islands. With A New
Description of New-found-Land, New-England, Virginia, Mary-Land, &c.
FIRST EDITION,
2 parts in one volume, folio, in original brown calf binding, ribbed
spine and tooled in blind (spine is separating), [1]; Printed
title; 23pp.; (44)pp; 1 large folding, 7 single page and 11 double
page charts on heavy ply paper. 255 woodcut plans and coastal
profiles in text. Provenance: On first blank leave a manuscript exlibris Bryan Smith, London January of 13th 1694. commandons à tous ceux quy auront ce flambaux de se souvenir du nom. Contents of charts The English
Pilot. The Fourth Book was the “first
wholly English sea-atlas of American waters... [and] the first major
sea-atlas produced in England”—Verner. John Seller was a pioneering British publisher of nautical charts and one of the most important figures in the early history of British cartography. Seller's shop, located near the Tower of London in Wapping, became a gathering place for seamen arriving with the latest news of distant places such as the West Indies and provided Seller with information critical to his nautical chart business. In addition to sea charts he produced a vast array of cartographic material. Seller was appointed Royal Hydrographer by Charles II in 1671, and also served under James II and William III. His English Pilot was a very ambitious project, being the first attempt by an Englishman to compete with the dominant Dutch sea atlases, led by Waghenaer's Mariner's Mirror. Unfortunately his business was built on a shaky foundation and though he made several attempts to avoid bankruptcy including a consortium partnership with other cartographers such as William Fisher and John Thornton, he was ultimately unsuccessful. The charts in this atlas are appearing only in early editions of the North American volume of The English Pilot. According to Verner, only two copies of the first edition are known.
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