Symonds, Sir William [London: printed by Sir Wm. Symonds for private circulation, 1840] [London: printed by Sir Wm. Symonds for private circulation, 1840]
tall 8vo. original green ribbed cloth with gilt title on upper board
comprising one four-fold leaf and twenty folded leaves, each containing four or more lithograph views illustrating various sailing craft from around the world, from men-of-war down to launches and cutters
a very scarce privately published volume by one of the most important figures in the Georgian and early Victorian navy, and Surveyor of the Navy from 1832 to 1847. Presumably only a few copies would have been printed, for circulation amongst friends; this one presented in the year before Symond's death to the Archdeacon Le Mesurier, with the inscription "Learn of the Nautilus to Sail. These sketches were made on a bed of pain in 1837"
externally the binding is a bit worn at the extremities and has been rather crudely re-backed with cloth. as usual there is some foxing throughout, heavy in places. lacking the front free end-paper and with old repairs to the hinges, and damage to the front paste-down from the removal of a label or book-plate
