THORNTON, John (1641-1708)

The English Pilot. The Third Book. Describing the Sea-Coasts, Capes, Headlands, Straits, Soundings

London, 1703. Facsimile edition: Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd., 1970. Folio. (17 3/4 x 11 3/8 inches). xvi (Introduction), 83 pp. Illustrated with 35 maps and charts (32 double-page and 3 full-page).

Publisher’s blue cloth, upper board and spine gilt-stamped, with dust-jacket, minor staining on back board

A fine facsimile of the 1703 John Thornton 'Third Book' of the English Pilot, the standard British sea-atlas for navigation to the Indian Ocean and Far East in the early eighteenth century.

Conceived by John Seller in the 1670s as a multi-book pilot, the Third Book treats the route from the Cape of Good Hope across the Indian Ocean to the East Indies and China seas, with sailing directions, coastal profiles, and a suite of large sea-charts. Thornton, hydrographer and chartmaker, completed and substantially expanded Seller's volume; his 1703 publication became the principal English pilot for the Indian Ocean and Far East. The present facsimile reproduces the copy in the Maritime Museum Prins Hendrik (Rotterdam) and includes a substantial introduction by Coolie Verner and R. A. Skelton on the publication history, chart sources, and states. The English Pilot marked Britain's bid to rival Dutch supremacy in printed nautical cartography. The Third Book is the first sustained English pilotage for Asian waters, describing winds and monsoons, recommended tracks, and the islands, bays, roads, harbours and ports "in the Oriental Navigation," from Madagascar and the Mascarenes through the Bay of Bengal and Malacca to the South China Sea. Thornton's charts, building on manuscript and company practice, provided working mariners with the first broadly accessible English chart compendium for these routes and remained influential through the century.

Item #42499

Price: $200.00