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Subject: Re: 1851 Bowditch
From: William Allen (allen@XXX.XXX)
Date: Fri Jan 31 2003 - 11:46:02 EST
Herbert,
I agree that what I was able to see of the 1851 was not as interesting
as say, my 1821. I wonder why Starpath chose that particular edition to
e-book?
Regards,
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: Navigation Mailing List
[mailto:NAVIGATION-L@XXX.XXX] On Behalf Of Herbert Prinz
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 8:08 AM
To: NAVIGATION-L@XXX.XXX
Subject: Re: 1851 Bowditch
Gerard Mittelstaedt wrote:
> Copyright is NOT an issue if one works from an original
> .. for 2 reasons... time and the fact that it was a US Govt. doc.
Just to set the record straight: The 1851 Bowditch was NOT a government
publication. The transfer from the Bowditch family to the Hydrographic
office happened in 1867.
Herbert Prinz
P.S.
In my modest opinion, the edition from 1851 is of merely historical
interest in that it documents the ups and downs (and more so the latter)
in the life of this publication. The New American Practical Navigator
was never particularly original in contents, but until Nathaniel's death
it was at least a good standard reference with solid data tables and up
to date descriptions of the latest navigation methods. That changed
drastically when Nathaniel died and his son took over the editing.
Jonathan Ingersoll Bowditch was clearly overburdened with the task. The
1851 edition is a particularly dull one: It contains no reference to
position line navigation. Captain Sumner had published his widely
acknowledged method in 1843, with reviews and recommandations from
academia and navy alike (Peirce, Maury,...). Sumner's publisher was
Thomas Groom & Co, Boston, around the corner from where J. I. Bowditch
was sitting in his insurance company. It took 12 years for the hot news
to reach Ingersoll or, more likely, for him to live up to the myth that
he had created around his father's book.
>
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