![[PANAMA CANAL] PITMAN, ROBERT BIRKS. A Succinct View and Analysis of Authentic Information Extant in Original Works, on the Practability of Joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by Ship Canal Across the Isthmus of America.](/sites/default/files/styles/auction_slider/public/images/lots/953/1487953.jpg?itok=YO7cQmuJ)
Lot Details
Lot 80
[PANAMA CANAL] PITMAN, ROBERT BIRKS. A Succinct View and Analysis of Authentic Information Extant in Original Works, on the Practability of Joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by Ship Canal Across the Isthmus of America.
London: Printed for J. M. Richardson and J. Hatchard and Sons, 1825. First edition, author's presentation copy "To Sir H.[umphry] Davy/with the Author's respects." Three-quarters pale blue calf of the period, marbled sides, all edges sprinkled red. 8 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches (21 x 13 cm); viii, 229, [3] pp.; folding map. Binding showing evidence of damp, the text slightly cockled but without staining, generally a clean example. Bookplate of Lady Davy (with the Davy arms).
A nice association copy of this proposal (though by no means the first) to construct a canal in Panama to avoid the rigors and delays of the Cape Horn passage. Five potential routes for such an undertaking are shown on the map. Davy, the recipient of this copy, was the greatest English chemist of his day (a pioneer of electrochemistry and an enthusiastic investigator into the effects of nitrous oxide). He was also the inventor of the Davy safety lamp, which saved the lives of countless miners. As the president of the Royal Society, he was a natural candidate for receipt of such a work.
C Property of a Massachusetts Gentleman
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