- 16
Harrison, John
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 GBP
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Description
- Harrison, John
- A Narrative of Proceedings relative to the Discovery of the Longitude at Sea; by Mr John Harrison’s Time-keeper; subsequent to those published in the Year 1763. Printed for the Author and sold by Mr. Sandby, 1765
- paper
First edition, 8vo (233 x 145mm.), [4], 18pp., half-title, uncut, numbered in manuscript “(No.23)” and “132” at head of half-title
Catalogue Note
John Harrison's claim to the Longitude prize: "Mr Harrison hopes these proposals will be thought satisfactory to the public" (p.18).
The second sea trial of Harrison's fourth time-keeper, H4, was made aboard the Tartaron a voyage from Portsmouth to Barbados in 1764. Harrison's son accompanied the voyage and made further refinements to the watch and when it arrived at Barbados the error of the watch was found to be only 43 seconds. Upon returning to England, the Board of Longitude refused to grant the longitude award to Harrison in full, causing him to publish defences of his watch and its precision (see lot 17). The present work copies letters of the Admiralty sent to Harrison in the preceding years establishing his development of the watch, and concludes with his own memorial. In it he outlines his claim, concluding in part that "whereas a method (invented by your Memorialist) for the Discovery of the Longitude hath been tried by Experiments made according to the Appointment of your Honourable Board... Your Memorialist therefore humbly prays; that your Honourable Board will be pleased to grant him such Certificate as directed by the above recited Act." The Board held firm for more than nine years, however. It was not until the intervention of Parliament in 1773 that Harrison received the balance of his reward of £20,000 to which, under the Act of 1714, he was entitled.
The second sea trial of Harrison's fourth time-keeper, H4, was made aboard the Tartaron a voyage from Portsmouth to Barbados in 1764. Harrison's son accompanied the voyage and made further refinements to the watch and when it arrived at Barbados the error of the watch was found to be only 43 seconds. Upon returning to England, the Board of Longitude refused to grant the longitude award to Harrison in full, causing him to publish defences of his watch and its precision (see lot 17). The present work copies letters of the Admiralty sent to Harrison in the preceding years establishing his development of the watch, and concludes with his own memorial. In it he outlines his claim, concluding in part that "whereas a method (invented by your Memorialist) for the Discovery of the Longitude hath been tried by Experiments made according to the Appointment of your Honourable Board... Your Memorialist therefore humbly prays; that your Honourable Board will be pleased to grant him such Certificate as directed by the above recited Act." The Board held firm for more than nine years, however. It was not until the intervention of Parliament in 1773 that Harrison received the balance of his reward of £20,000 to which, under the Act of 1714, he was entitled.
The National Maritime Museum did not have a copy of the pamphlet until 2003, when it acquired the papers of the 2nd Viscount Barrington, a member of the 18th-century Board of Longitude. This self-published pamphlet was presumably printed in an extremely limited edition for private circulation to members of the board.
The Law Society of England and Wales was founded in 1825, with a library forming part of the original prospectus for the Society, and by 1832 it was housed in its present elegant building on Chancery Lane. The current selection of 22 lots all have library stamps reflecting their history and have been marked to indicate their deaccession from the Law Society’s holdings.