Beschreibung:

BOUGARD, René (fl. 1684). The Little Sea Torch: or, True guide for coasting pilots. Translated, with corrections and additions, from the French into English by John Thomas Serres. London: T. Rickaby for the author by J. Debrett, 1801. First edition in English of one of the most elegantly illustrated navigational books ever published. Bougard’s Le petit flambeau de la mer was first published in 1684. Serres translated the work and added his magnificent views to this English edition. The plates are views of headlands, ports, lighthouses, landmarks and harbo u r entrances which served as visual guides for navigators. Serres turned these utilitarian subjects into art, depicting more than 50 vessels in the plates in all states of rigging and attitude, from a man of war to a 12-oared galley with lateen sails. Serres was Marine Painter to the King, as had been his equally famous father Dominique the elder. The plates include fine town views of Valletta, Palermo, Naples and La Spezia and the 24 harbour plans show soundings and approaches to Atlantic and Mediterranean ports from Dieppe to Corfu. Eleven views of the lighthouses include the old Eddystone, the Dublin and the ones at Cannes and Ville Franche. Abbey Travel 344; Phillips Atlases 2852. Folio (430 x 278mm). 20 hand-coloured aquatint plates by J. Stadler after J.T. Serres comprising 127 subjects, 12 hand-coloured engraved charts comprising 24 subjects by John Luffman (faint marginal spotting to title, else a bright copy). Contemporary boards (rebacked, preserving the original printed paper spine label, rubbed at extremities).