William Bourne Edited Taylor (2 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Hardcover, 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, 464 pages, index. Covers have minimal wear and the pages are clean .Reprint of Hakluyt Society publication Second Series No. CXXI.

Hardback. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Thus. This copy is in fine condition bound in blue cloth covered boards with bright gilt titling to the spine. This copy is bright, tight, white and square, there is a small stamp of the maritime reviewer Kenneth Rathbone to the f.e.p. and laid in is the publisher's original review slip. The unclipped dustwrapper is in near fine condition International postal rates are calculated on a book weighing 1 Kilo, in cases where the book weighs more than 1 Kilo increased postal rates will be quoted, where the book weighs less then postage will be reduced accordingly. William Bourne, of Gravesend, by trade a gunner, was a successful writer of a new type of textbook. Neither a scholar nor of gentle birth, both of which were regarded as the prerequisites of authorship in the 16th century, when the scientific books were expected to appear only in universities and to be read only by those fluent in Latin, Bourne nevertheless produced a whole series of technical manuals, written in English for the artisans and craftsmen of his own class. A Regiment for the Sea, which forms the core of the volume, is perhaps the earliest technical manual written by an Englishman. It is not simply his rules for navigation, for Bourne wrote much as he spoke, so that out of this instruction book for sailors a clear picture of the man himself emerges: serious, reliable, patriotic and with this inborn impulse to pass on his knowledge to others. The first edition of 1574 is printed here in full, with the additional material which was added to the 1580 edition. Professor Taylor has also included two Almanackes. She has written an introductory section to each text, and in her general Introduction she fills in the details of Bourne's life and discusses his various writings. There is a full bibliography. Ref BB 4.