An Inquiry into the Means which have been taken to Preserve the British Navy... from that Species of Decay, now denominated Dry-Rot
London: Winchester and Varnham, 1821. From the Bart Auerbach Collection. 4to. 164 pages. Contemporary midnight blue straight-grained morocco gilt, spine gilt in compartments, rose-colored paper endleaves, morocco gilt inner dentelles, edges gilt. Wear at ends of spine and along outer joints and at places on edges, otherwise in very good condition. Item #409185
First edition. The dedication copy "to the Right Honorable Robert Viscount Melville, Baron Dunera, First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, This work is, with His Permission, Inscribed..." (from the printed dedication). Inscribed by Knowles, who was Secretary to the Committee of Surveyors of His Majesty's Navy from 1806-1832, at the top right corner of the title-page: "Rt. Hon. Viscount Melville with the Author's most respectful complts." Knowles (1781-1841) published naval works, an edition of Henry Fuseli's 'Lectures on Painting' (1830), and a 'Life of Fuseli' (1831). With Melville's bookplate and that of William Tarun Fehsenfeld. (BA).
Price: $1,500.00