Memoir of the Late Captain Joseph Huddart, F.R.S. &c.

£2,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A handsome, wide-margined copy with an excellent association connecting a senior member of the East India Company with one of its most important hydrographers. The inscription on the title-page reads: “To Capt[ai]n. Horsburgh, with Mr. Jos[ep]h Huddart’s comp[limen]ts.” After entering the East India Company in 1771, Joseph Huddart snr. (1741-1816) made numerous voyages to the Far East, which included a survey expedition of the west coast of Sumatra, and visits to China and India. “Throughout his time at sea Huddart drew charts and collected hydrographic information. His charts of Sumatra, the Cape of Good Hope, the Strait of Gaspar, and the approaches to Canton (Guangzhou) were published by Robert Sayer, who also commissioned a chart of the Irish Sea from him. He made an important series of observations fixing positions on the west coast of India and improved the sailing directions for the route to the East. He had a reputation as an extremely accurate observer of geographical positions and was quick to adopt the latest survey techniques” (ODNB). He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society – a fact proudly noted by his son in the title of this memoir – in 1791. Much is made of the friendship between Huddart, and other eminent hydrographers, James Watt, and John Rennie in the text Huddart and Horsburgh (1762-1836) would surely have known each other as they were both elected to the Royal Society in 1811. Not least, Huddart’s The Oriental navigator, or, New directions for sailing

• Binding: Hardcover

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