Next message: Gordon Talge: "Re: Cotter - copy located"
George,
A pleasure to hear from you.
I've recently been given "Spherical and Practical Astronomy" by
Chauvenet [2 vols], which I've not yet read in.
What are your thoughts on it ?
Cordially,
Courtney
George Huxtable wrote:
> Courtney Thomas asked, about Cotter's "A History of Nautical Astronomy"-
>
>
>>There's one on abebooks.com for $199.50.
>>
>>May I ask why is this book(s) worth $200 ?
>>
>
> The short answer is because the seller, presumably, thinks he can get it,
> on account of the rarity and uniqueness of this book.
>
> I have asked on this list if members know of other works which explain
> pre-Sumner navigation techniques without skipping the basic maths involved,
> to meet my own interests and I guess those of a significant fraction of
> Nav-L members
>
> Some suggestions have been-
>
> Hewson, JB, "A history of the practice of navigation", 1951 (who skips the
> maths of the lunar).
>
> May, WE, "A history of marine navigation", Good on compasses, avoids all maths.
>
> Albuquerque, Luis de. "Astronomical Navigation" (Lisbon, 1988). Confines
> itself to 15th-16th century Portuguese navigation, so latitude navigation
> only.
>
> Forbes, Eric G, "The birth of navigation science", 1974. National Maritime
> Museum pamphlet No.10. About the longitude problem, lunars, and
> chronometers, but in words and pictures only. Lots of references.
>
> I have all of these on my shelves but have found that none does the job
> that Cotter does, so to me, Cotter occupies a unique place been unafraid of
> getting into the mathematical background. His book also contains a
> remarkable list of references.
>
> He was a lecturer at a nautical college in Cardiff, Wales, which must have
> held a first-class historical library in which to delve.
>
> But in my view he was working right at the limits of his understanding. In
> this field he was quite on his own, as his son has recently confirmed to
> me. It was before the days of email, so Cotter didn't have the chance,
> which we now enjoy on Nav-l, to offer his ideas to the criticism and
> argument of others.
>
> Perhaps as a result, his book is littered with technical errors, which is
> my biggest (perhaps my only) criticism. Jan Kalivoda and I (with help from
> Herbert Prinz) have assembled a web-page which lists points at which errors
> lurk (or are suspected to lurk). It does not claim to be exhaustive, but
> aims be useful to any reader or owner of Cotter's book. We recommend that
> it be printed out and slipped between the pages. You can find it on-
>
> www.huxtable.u-net.com/cotter01.htm
>
> Cotter wrote several other books on nautical topics: "A history of the
> navigator's sextant" (which is good), and standard texts, "The complete
> coastal navigator" and, I think, on the Physical Geography of the Oceans,
> which are so-so. So make sure you acquire the right Cotter.
>
> ============
>
> Geoff Butt didn't give information for contacting Warsash Nautical
> Bookshop. Warsash is is at the upper end of Portsmouth Harbour in the UK.
> The phone number I have here is-
> 01481 572384 or from outside UK +44 1481 572384. Sorry, but I don't have
> their email address to hand. I can recommend them as good people to deal
> with. Geoff didn't say how much they were asking for Cotter, but I bet it
> was a lot less than $200!
>
> George.
>
> ================================================================
> contact George Huxtable by email at , by phone at
> 01865 820222 (from outside UK, +44 1865 820222), or by mail at 1 Sandy
> Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
> ================================================================
>
>
--
s/v Mutiny
Rhodes Bounty II
lying Oriental, NC
WDB5619
