Category Archives: Maritime

Materials or information relating to maritime or naval collections.

Fall 2024 Exhibit: Come Sail Away!

As the new semester begins, the Book Arts, Archives, & Rare Books division at Boatwright Memorial Library is pleased to announce a specialized exhibit that highlights a distinctive component of its rare book and archival collections: maritime-related materials. Many of these items, which reside in the Galvin Rare Book Room & Archives, have been acquired largely through the generous endowment of the Beverly Lyle Britton Fund. Beverly Lyle Britton, an esteemed alumnus of Richmond College (Class of 1935), devoted much of his professional life to service in the United States Navy, where he held notable positions including Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy and Press Liaison. Established following Britton’s passing in 1995, the fund is dedicated to procuring materials that pertain specifically to the United States Navy, maritime history, and the sea. This ongoing financial support has enabled the library to continuously enhance its collection with annual acquisitions.

The current exhibit, titled Come Sail Away, offers a curated selection of the library’s maritime-themed holdings, providing a window into the breadth and depth of the collection. This exhibit serves not only as a sampling of the diversity of the library’s resources but also as an invitation to students, faculty, staff, and the broader academic community to engage with and explore these valuable materials for research and scholarship. The exhibit is located on level 2 of Boatwright Library, just outside the administrative offices.

Below is a list of the exhibit’s categories and some of the corresponding materials on display that are available for use through the Galvin Rare Book Room & Archives. For a more comprehensive exploration of the library’s rare book holdings, we encourage the use of the online catalog—pro tip: select the “Rare Books” tab to focus your search on materials housed in the Galvin Rare Book Room. Additionally, searching for “Britton” will yield results for items procured through the Britton Fund. Archival materials are accessible through the ArchivesSpace database, where new and updated content is continually integrated as it becomes available.

Ships & Ship Life

David M. Clinger, Romantick & Whimsical Words of the Sea and of Sailing-ships Stingray Point, VA: 2004. MS-35 David M. Clinger Collection, Box 26 This miniature book was hand-set in well-work Garamond foundry type and printed on the antique press of Chesapeake Bay Retriever and Sandy Bottom News at Stingray Point Farm, Stingray Point, Virginia. This first edition was limited to 20 copies.
Herman Melville, Moby Dick: or, The Whale New York: Norton, 1976 Illustrated by Warren Chappell, Richmond College Class of 1926 — 50^th Anniversary Class Gift from the Class of 1926
Frank Shay, ed. Iron Men & Wooden Ships: Deep Sea Chanties Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, & Co., 1924 In 1920, Shay opened a tiny bookshop where he both sold and published books. The initial volume of this work was published by Shay in 1921, then this expanded edition was picked up and published by Doubleday in 1924. (Note: This book is a newly acquired work that is in the process of being cataloged into the collection.)

Latitude & Longitude

Matthew Fontaine Maury, A New Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Navigation: in which the auxiliary branches of mathematics and astronomy, comprised of algebra, geometry,…. variation of the compass, etc., are treated of. Also the theory and most simple methods of finding time, latitude, and longitude….. Philadelphia: Key & Biddle, 1836 Inscribed by the author. Maury was a naval officer and oceanographer and considered one of the founding pioneers of modern oceanography. This work was his first published book, completed at the age of 30 after participating in three extended voyages, including the first circumnavigation of the globe by a U.S. Navy vessel. Maury served as the head of the United States Naval Observatory from 1844-1861.
William Whiston, The Longitude discovered by the eclipses, occultations, and conjunctions of Jupiter’s planets: with descriptions of those refracting and reflecting telescopes… that are useful for the discovery of longitude both at land and sea… London: Printed for John Whiston at Boyle’s Head, Fleet Street, 1738 Instrumental in helping pass the British Longitude Act of 1714, Whiston spent a considerable amount of time working on the problem of longitude. This first-edition work explains the various instruments and experiments Whiston explored in his attempts.

Sea-faring Adventures

Hamilton M. Baskerville, My Cruise Diary: North Cape & Russia Cruise, 1931 Richmond: Whittet & Shepperson, 1932. Privately printed for the author for distribution among his friends, #62/200. This work is inscribed by the author: “For the library of the University of Richmond, presented by the author, alumnus, 1899-1900.”
Frank I. Wilson, Sketches of Nassau… Raleigh, NC, 1864 Teacher, reporter, and writer, Frank Wilson of North Carolina published this work documenting his travels to Nassau in 1864 aboard a blockade-runner.

Exploring the South Pacific

Alexander Dalrymple, An Historical Collection of Several Voyages & Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean London: Printed for the author and sold by J. Nourse, bookseller in ordinary to his majesty, 1770-1771 This important collection, published in two volumes in 1770-1771, contains accounts of notable Iberian and Dutch voyages in the southern hemisphere, translated and edited by Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808). Hydrographer to the Admiralty from 1795, Dalrymple produced this work as part of his research into the belief at the time that there existed an undiscovered continent in the South Pacific. These volumes were intended to demonstrate the knowledge of the region to date. The first volume covers sixteenth-century Spanish and Portuguese voyages, beginning with Ferdinand Magellan and including those of Juan Fernández, Álvaro de Mendaña y Neira, and Pedro Fernandes de Queirós. The second volume contains the seventeenth- and eighteenth- century Dutch voyages of Jacob le Maire and William Schouten, and Abel Tasman.
Rockwell Kent, Voyaging Southward from the Strait of Magellan New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1924 Graphic artist and avid traveler Rockwell Kent takes readers on an illustrated adventure of his sailing the southern tip of South America, dramatically illustrated with the author’s woodcuts.

Artist Book

Jessica Spring, Fathoming Tacoma, WA: Springtide Press, 2015 Book Arts Collection #37 From the colophon: “”[L]etterpress printed with handset Latin Condensed and Bernhar Gothic with vintage maritime cuts. The edition includes a varied copy for each of the seven seas, featuring collectible tobacco cards sold with packages of cigarettes from 1924-37. Printed by Jessica Spring and bound in an adaptation of Hedi Kyle’s flag book structure with Japanese maritime maps from 1945 [on exterior of concertina spine]. [Drop-spine] boxes bound and portholes scuttled by Gabby Cooksey. Removable flags are held in place with sewing rather than attached to concertina spine (as in the traditional flag book binding by Hedi Kyle). Concertina attached at either end to blue cloth over boards with three circular cut-outs in each, displaying illustrations and the title. Spine is letterpress printed with various nautical terms and their definitions on recto, with historic maritime maps on verso.”

Manuscript Material

SC-1: Ship’s Log of Whaling Journeys (1850s) This manuscript documents at least four different voyages during the 1850s, although the entries record varying levels of detail. Many are dated and often include the longitude and latitude of the vessel as well as information about the weather. The intent of the various sailings was clear, no matter the ship: they were hunting whales. On September 4, 1858, for example, the author documented that the crew “saw a very large school of sperm whale which is something uncommon in this latitude and longitude. Sketches and drawings of whales highlight some pages, especially when their hunt was successful. In fact, the main image on our blog is from this manuscript!

New Acquisition: Walter Raleigh’s Essays

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Title page from Walter Raleigh’s Judicious and select essayes and observations…..

One of our new summer acquisitions is this lovely octavo volume of Walter Raleigh’s essays, Judicious and Select Essays and Observations. A collection of four essays authored by Raleigh, this first edition, first issue volume was the first to bring together all four essays into a single volume. Two of the essays, “Excellent observations and notes, concerning the Royall navy and sea-service” and “Sir Walter Rawleigh his apologie for his voyage to Guiana,” had been published separately the same year, but the other two, “The first invention of shipping” and “The misery of invasive warre,” were printed for the first time in this collection. As indicated by the titles, Raleigh’s knowledge of maritime and military activity was central in this set of essays, covering his experience with ships and the Royal Navy as well as a discourse on his voyage to the northeast coast of South America in an attempt to seek the renewed favor of Queen Elizabeth I. Some historians suspect several of these essays were composed during his long imprisonment in the Tower of London.

The volume itself carries two bookplates documenting previous ownership, the first noting “Ex Libris: Richard Chase Sidney” and the second from the “Scott Library Collection at the Institution of Naval Architects.” Additionally, there is an inscription from John Hunt on the title page. The engraved portrait of Raleigh is signed by Ro. Vaughn. Each of the 4 essays has its own separate title page. Overall, the volume is in good condition for its age, with minimal wear showing on its cover of half-morocco over boards as would be expected.

On its way to cataloging, the book will soon join many others in our growing collection of maritime adventures and tales across the centuries in the Galvin Rare Book Room. All of the rare book room materials can be searched in the library catalog and viewed during our research open hours.

New Additions ~ Maritime Collections

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Another Spring Semester comes to a close here on campus. This week is the last week of classes, then finals, and the thrill of graduation weekend and summer. This semester has brought many changes to Rare Books & Special Collections, including the opening of the new Reading Room and Classroom Annex space. If you haven’t had a chance to see the newly remodeled spaces yet, please drop by the next time you are on campus for a tour!

In addition to new spaces, there have also been many new additions to both the rare book and the manuscript collections in Boatwright Library. The last blog post talked about the new World War II correspondence collection, but I wanted to share also the wonderful new additions to the maritime and naval collections that have been added this spring.

Three new first editions have been added to the rare book collection, which already houses an impressive set of travel and maritime-related works. The first new addition is a 1777 2-volume first edition of George Forster’s A Voyage Round the World, In his Britannic Majesty’s Sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years 1772, 3, 4, and 5. This set adds to our materials on both sea-faring voyages and exploration literature by adding another version of Cook’s sailings.

The second new first edition account is a 1779 first edition of A Voyage to New Guinea, and the Moluccas, from Balambangan: including an account of Magindano, Sooloo, and other islands; and illustrated with thirty copperplates. Performed in the Tartar galley, belonging to the Honourable East India company, during the years 1774, 1775, and 1776 to which is added, a Vocabulary of the Magindano Tongue. This account was written by one of the most experienced ship captains and documents social and cultural life as well as maps, panoramas, coastal charts, genealogy, and a English to Magindano and Papua vocabulary.

The third new addition to the rare book maritime collection is the 1802 first edition travel account of a woman traveler through the Crimea and Black Sea regions. The book is written in the form of letters by Maria Guthrie, and translated and edited by her husband, Matthew Guthrie. Her letters document her varied encounters during her travels, including a whirling dervish ceremony and a letter concerning Jews in the Crimean region.

Three new manuscript maritime collections have also been added to the Boatwright Library archival materials. The largest of the three documents the work of U.S. Naval Commander Horace Elmer, who had an illustrious naval career including heading the department of seamanship at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1883 to 1886. His last service included organizing and commanding the Mosquito Fleet, including the inner coast defense of the Atlantic and Gulf States during the Spanish-American War. The archival collection includes journals from his time at the naval academy and a number of ship’s logs which include precise technical sketches including the engines of the U.S.S. Monitor. There are also several scrapbooks including one from his daughter, Edith Elmer Wood, which contains images of family, the Naval Academy, and the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Two smaller manuscript items have been added as well. The first item is the journal of Edward Reavely, Quartermaster First Class serving on the U.S.S. Chester in 1917. As a destroyer, the Chester was active during World War I as an escort between Gibraltar and Britain. The second item is the private journal of Edward Paul Duffy, a printer on board the U.S. flagship Trenton, written in 1881. While on board, Duffy printed the twice-monthly Trenton Herald and served as a special correspondent to the Baltimore Sun. His journal documents his print work, the weather, and trips off the ship as well.

Each of these new additions bring new stories of explorations, travel, and sea voyages just waiting to be discovered.

A Whale of a Name

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Naming a blog isn’t easy. We thought long and hard, enviously looked at other blog names, and tentatively settled on Something Uncommon—a kind of definition of rare and how we feel about the collection. The next step was the image to personalize the page. We looked at several images taken from our shelves and settled on the hastily penned drawing of a whale from our 1856 whaling journal. (SC-1–Journal of a Whaling Voyage in the Atlantic Ocean onboard of the Brig Gem of Beverly, Nathaniel Ryder Master.)

Once we had the image, we decided to look through the journal for a tag line, or something that might make a more unique title. The ship weighed anchor April 7^th from Provincetown Harbor, the wind from the northwest. Most entries give the longitude and latitude, the weather, and what transpired that day, such as “Wensday[sic], June 4^th. This day lost a 30 bbl whale through Periwinkle.” And while the adventures of Periwinkle and his cohorts are interesting, it did not present us with a likely title.

Then, after some time we came to the page with the whale on it, and, like some karmic gift, directly above the drawing were the words: “Saw a very large school of sperm whale which is something uncommon in this latitude and longitude.” No need to look any further.

So visit us often to see what other uncommon things we have uncovered in the Galvin Rare Book Room.