Page 83 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript Americana - Sale 2310 - April 16, 2013

172 ● (MARITIME.) Dodge, Antipas. Log book of the ship Australia of Salem,
MA on a journey from New York to Sumatra and back. 120 manuscript log pages.
Folio, original 1/2 calf, worn, with worn early linen cover; only minor wear and foxing to
contents. Also includes page of hand-colored signal flags, detached leaf with mounted
flying fish wings, 32 pages of scrapbook pages on the Spanish-American War kept by
daughter in 1898 (mostly clippings, some in color).
Vp, January to December 1859 [300/400]
The log keeper, Antipas Dodge (1842-1867), was a lifelong resident of Beverly, MA. His log
is mainly concerned with the technical aspects of sail deployment. The ship reaches Rigaih,
Sumatra on 3 May, and the journal resumes on 23 August. An interesting juxtaposition of old
and new communication technology can be seen in this entry: “Signalized an English ship . . .
bound to Mobile. She reports the Atlantic telegraph a failure” (5 December 1859). On 16
December, Dodge’s ship resupplied an English barque they met which was short of provisions.
Dodge died eight years later in Mauritius, working as a supercargo on a French ship.
173 ● (MARITIME.) Life-Saving Service. Instructions to Mariners in Case of
Shipwreck. Second edition. 43 pages. 24mo, original calf folding case, gilt, moderate wear;
original owner’s inscription on rear pastedown. Washington, 1888 [200/300]
174 ● (MARITIME.) Mercantile papers of Captain John Moulton. Approximately
229 manuscript documents, 0.3 linear feet, including 23 mercantile letters sent and
received, including some sailing instructions from ship owners; 6 letters from Moulton to
his wife; 45 mercantile documents including crew lists, protests, and certificates; 5 diary
extracts and fragments; and 150 mercantile receipts, invoices, and other financial papers;
various conditions, but no general problems. Vp, 1778-1823, bulk 1793-1806 [600/900]
John Moulton (1762-1824) was a sea captain from Wenham, MA. These papers are from
voyages of the ships Mary, Nancy, Rambler, and Reward of Newburyport, sailing throughout
Europe, the Caribbean and the Atlantic coast. Six tender letters to his wife give this collection a
more personal touch. Moulton wrote in 1803, “All I could wish is for a pair of wings, so that I
could fly and see you one day & back the next.” In 1805, he wrote about his son’s letter
(apparently without irony): “Incorage him to persivear in his spelling, as their was a few words
spelt wrong, & good spelling is the beauty of writing.” Also of interest is a seaman’s protection
certificate issued to the captain’s 12-year-old son John Moulton in 1799. Most dramatic is a
retained draft of his 15 August 1798 letter to his ship’s owner, written from Havana: “I am
sorry to inform you that I had the misfortune to be captured . . . westward of Cape Antonio by
the French privateer schooner Revenge.”
175 ● (MARITIME.) Sumner, Thomas H. A New and Accurate Method of
Finding a Ship’s Position at Sea. 6 plates. [2], 79 pages. 8vo, publisher’s gilt pictorial
cloth, moderate wear; moderate foxing; early signature and later small bookplate on front
pastedown. Boston, 1843 [400/600]
FIRST EDITION. “One of the most famous discoveries in the field of navigation. . . . The
method in present use follows that of Sumner in considerable detail”—Struik, Yankee Science
in the Making, 1948, pages 404-6.
176 ● (MARYLAND.) Group of 14 Baltimore newspapers. Various sizes and
conditions, several with clipped advertisements.
Baltimore, 1773-1799 (most 1786-1790) [500/750]
Maryland Gazette, 24 June 1773 * 12 issues of the Maryland Journal and Baltimore
Advertiser, 1 July 1777 and 1786-1790 * Federal Gazette and Baltimore Daily Advertiser,
16 April 1799. The 1777 paper includes extensive reports from General Washington and
others of the British retreat through New Jersey to Staten Island. Three issues from April
1788 discuss Maryland’s decision to ratify the Constitution.