antiquarian bookseller - Peter Harrington

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller
293.CRAWFORD, Abraham.
Reminiscences of a Naval Officer,
during the Late War. With Sketches
and Anecdotes of Distinguished
Commanders.
London, Henry Colburn, 1851 [37575] £850
2 vols. 8vo. Lithographed portrait frontispiece to each volume,
Admirals Sir Edward Owen and Sir Benjamin Hallowell Carew.
Some sporadic foxing, a little browned throughout, but overall
very good indeed in the publisher’s dark blue embossed cloth,
title gilt to spines.
FIRST EDITION. Crawford entered the navy in 1800 as a
first class volunteer on board HMS Diamond “in which
he assisted in the capture of many of the enemy’s ships,
armed and otherwise” (O’Byrne). He transferred to the
Immortalité and later Clyde, frigates, under Admiral Owen
as a midshipman “and appears to have been almost daily in
action from June 1802 until Aug. 1806, with detachments
of the Boulogne flotilla.” With Duckworth on the Royal
George at the forcing of the Dardanelles in 1807, Crawford
was present at the destruction of the Turkish squadron off
Point Pesquies. Promoted lieutenant in the Sultan, he was
involved in frequent cutting out operations in the Gulf of
Genoa, taking part in the pursuit of the French ships of the
line Robuste and Lion in 1809. In 1810–11 he served under
Admiral Carew in the blockade of Toulon and supporting
the Catalonian insurgents on the coast, being present at
the siege of Tarragona. Promoted commander in 1815 he
was given command of the Grasshopper on the West India
Station, where he served until invalided home in 1829.
An uncommon account of naval life in the Napoleonic
Wars, entirely factual but so full of incident and detail as
to suggest the work of Marryat, Forester or O’Brian. This
copy in wonderfully bright condition.
294.CURTIS, Admiral Sir
Roger.
Port Signals, and General Orders.
[Portsmouth,] n.d., [c.1810] [38585] £1500
8vo (212 × 140 mm). Tables to the text. Somewhat browned
and finger-soiled, small library stamp to the front free
endpaper, modern bookplate to one of the blanks, but overall
very good in the original red half skiver on paper-covered
boards, label to the upper board, rubbed and soiled, but
sound.
FIRST EDITION. Issued by Curtis for guidance to captains
or commanders of ships either in Portsmouth Harbour
or at Spithead “and before any Ship or Vessel to which
it has been issued proceeds to Sea, it to be returned.”
Signed by Curtis. Rare: we have traced no other copy.
Begins with a printed list of the signification of 20 signals,
to which a further twelve have been added in manuscript.
This is followed by printed orders and instructions, 44
in all, with a further seven in manuscript over almost
five pages and chiefly related to instructions for officers
rowing guard and for keeping guard on board at both
Spithead and Portsmouth harbours. There follow seven
examples of printed forms to be used for reporting on
board His Majesty’s ships and vessels, with a further
form added by hand, covering such issues as listing men
impressed, quarantine ground, lists of vessels captured,
list of Greenwich pensioners serving on board. Two actual
examples of forms, “Certificate to be given by the Captain
… to Persons apprehending Deserters.” and “A Daily Report
of the Progress made in the Equipment” are mounted on
the front and rear pastedowns respectively, the latter
folding and rather tattered. At the end is a one-and-ahalf
page manuscript general memo, dated 22 February
1810, relating to the examination of candidates for
lieutenancy, and the use of pilots to crew captured vessels.
Curtis was with Howe at the Glorious First of June as
captain of the Queen Charlotte, and received a baronetcy
for his part in the action and promotion to rear-admiral. In
1800 he was appointed commander-in-chief at the Cape,
describing the post in a letter to Nelson, who was a good
friend, as “an abominable station”, from which he returned
dangerously ill. He was promoted admiral in 1804, but
spent much of the next five years on half-pay. In 1809 was
appointed c-in-c Portsmouth, during which command he
was president of the court-martial of Admiral Gambier in
his dispute with Cochrane. “He had long been Gambier’s
intimate friend; but independently of that, his whole
career shows that his personal courage was so tempered
by prudence as to lead to sympathy with that excess of
caution with which Gambier was charged” (DNB). Nelson
considered Curtis to be “an able officer and conciliating
man”. He died in 1816.
295.DE LA GRAVIÈRE,
Captain E. Jurien.
Sketches of the Last Naval War.
Translated from the French … by
The Hon. Captain Plunkett, R.N.
London, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1848 [37738]
£775
2 volumes in 1, 8vo. 9 folding battle plans. Light browning,
otherwise very good in the publisher’s green embossed cloth,
just a little rubbed and mottled.
FIRST EDITION. A surprisingly impartial account,
essentially a life of Nelson, originally published in the
Revue des Deux Mondes.
296.ELLAM, W. H.
Catalogue 57: Travel Section 7: Mapping, Navigation and Naval History
Trafalgar.
London, Castell Brothers [Munich Printed], n.d. [1891] [38566]
£275
12mo (123 × 110 mm). 6ll. 5 chromolithographically printed
illustration, one of them double-page. Very good in the
original chromolithographic card wraps, stitched with gold
thread as issued.
FIRST EDITION. Uncommon, COPAC has BL only, not on
OCLC. Highly attractive toy-book, shaped around the
cover design of a trophy of Union flags, swords, pikes
and cannons with a Trafalgar medal. Probably produced
to cash in on the success of the Royal Naval Exhibition of
1891.
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