Captain (later Rear Admiral) Richard Owen (1796-1863)

Starting price
£ 2 800
Auction dateClassic
28.04.2021 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
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United Kingdom, London
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ID 519381
Lot 90 | Captain (later Rear Admiral) Richard Owen (1796-1863)
Captain (later Rear Admiral) Richard Owen (1796-1863)
A nautical memoir, descriptive of the surveys made in H.M. ships 'Blossom' and 'Thunder,' from 1829 to 1837. Dublin: printed by Alexander Thom, [c.1838].
Extremely rare work describing surveying voyages in the West Indies, with authorial presentation to the future Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Station; no copies apparently recorded in Irish or British libraries, and only 4 copies traced in the Americas. Owen was the son of a clergyman in Co. Wexford, Ireland. He entered the Royal Navy in 1811, and obtained the rank of Lieutenant in February 1821, and was appointed to the Blossom in May 1829, assigned to the Jamaica Station. Under orders from the Admiralty's Hydrographer, Captain Francis Beaufort', Owen carried out extensive survey work in the Carribbean, continuing his surveys in the Thunder, 1833-1837. Owen died in 1863 and is buried at Knockmullen, Co. Wexford. The publication's rarity suggests Owen had the work privately printed for his own personal presentation and circulation. We can only find two copies selling at auction, in 1969 and 1981, both with authorial presentation inscriptions. Worldcat records only copies at New York Public Library, the Navy Dept. Library in Washington DC, The Mariner's Museum Library in Newport News, VA, and at National Library of Jamaica. Sabin 58013.

Octavo (214 x 137mm). Pp. [1, title], 171, [1, abbreviations] (textblock beginning to loosen). Original dark green cloth, mostly unopened (rubbed with short splits to joint and head of spine slightly defective).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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