37 - THE WINNER (M.).

THE WINNER (M.). The Experienced Pilot, or New Lessons in Navigation Without a Teacher, for the Use of Merchant Mariners. Nantes, Brun, 1781. In-4, marbled sheepskin, decorated ribbed spine, double gilt fillet on the edges (contemporary binding). First edition illustrated with 9 fold-out plates, engraved in intaglio by de L'Oeuvre. At the end of the volume is the Collection of Astronomical Tables for the period from January 1780 to January 1801 (115 pp.) Le Gaigneur was a professor at the Royal Naval Academy in Caen. He offers navigation lessons designed to be studied independently (“without a teacher”), intended primarily for sailors and navigators in the merchant marine. It includes tables of the Sun’s declination and right ascension calculated for the Paris meridian, covering a period of twenty years (from January 1, 1780, to January 1, 1801). Written in the 18th century, this work is part of the era’s efforts to disseminate methods of astronomical navigation and the calculation of longitude at sea. A fine copy, with some old restorations or minor wear, and a few minor interior flaws.