![[NAVIGATION MANUSCRIPT] HUTCHINSON, WILLIAM. The Elements of Navigation performed and acquired by William Hutchinson whilst edu...](/sites/default/files/styles/auction_slider/public/images/lots/2020-06-17/1380085.jpg?itok=evKkcD9j)
Lot Details
Lot 149
[NAVIGATION MANUSCRIPT] HUTCHINSON, WILLIAM. The Elements of Navigation performed and acquired by William Hutchinson whilst edu...
London: Royal Mathematical School, 1821 (date from title and final leaf). Manuscript on fine laid paper with a fleur de lys watermark rendered in an accomplished round hand by Hutchinson, with extensive off-hand pen flourishing and many navigational diagrams. Contemporary leather, covers stamped in gilt with the "Dieu et mon droit" arms of the United Kingdom. 11 1/8 x 9 inches (28.5 x 23 cm); [iv], 13-732 pp.; most pages signed at the foot by Hutchinson and countersigned by Adams. Neatly if unsympathetically rebacked, the covers worn (the upper especially so), the contents generally in excellent condition. Apparently complete, despite the hiatus in pagination at the beginning; it is possible that a dedicatory section was excised, or never completed.
The Royal Mathematical School was founded in 1673, and was subsequently absorbed into Christ's Hospital. Pupils were aged 11 through 18, and were prepared for a career in the Royal Navy, so the syllabus was naturally strong in mathematics (especially as applied to navigation). We have not been able to identity William Hutchinson (likely no relation to the navigational author of the same name, which is a common one), but the exceptional quality of the manuscript record he prepared of his instruction is a testament to the very high quality of the nautical education he received. Adams was headmaster between 1819 and about 1825; his initialling of each page is analogous to the way that the master of a vessel might initial each page of a midshipman's log.
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