JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA AND AROUND THE WORLD FOR MAGNETICAL RESEARCH. THE REV. W. SCORESBY.
Hardback large octavo, no jacket as issued, original black embossed cloth cover (gilt spine lettering, rebacked), colour plates, black & white engraving frontispiece portrait, tables, figures (some hand-colour), foldout hand-coloured map of the world, new endpapers, errata slip tipped in, pages faintly toned (edges toned), unopened, 96 + 315 + 24 pp. First edition. Pages 1 - 96: "Exposition of magnetical principles . disturbance in iron ships". Followed by, pages 1 - 315: "Narrative of the voyage". Rev. Scoresby (1789 - 1857), the noted Arctic explorer, later became the first navigator to investigate the changes in magnetism in an iron ship as it sailed from the northern to southern hemisphere. He was appointed in 1855 to the Liverpool Compass Committee which investigated the deviation of the compass in wooden and iron ships in response to losses at sea caused by compass errors. In 1856 he and his wife sailed on the maiden voyage of the "Royal Charter" to Australia and circumnavigation back to England, to make systematic observations on the magnetism of iron ships. His results were published in 1859 after his death. (Ferguson 15510. Publisher's catalogue at rear.)