Around the World in the Sloop Spray, a Geographical Reader Describing Captain Slocum's Voyage Alone Around the World [Sailing Alone Around the World]

New York: Charles Scriber's Sons, 1903 Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Slocum, eleven plates, and a fold-out map at the rear. First edition thus (first abridged edition). Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Slocum with a quotation from the book (second paragraph, first line): "'As for myself the wonderful sea charmed me from the first' Joshua Slocum [illegible] Aug 16th 1903". Publisher's dark red cloth, with front board and spine elaborately decorated in brown, and lettered in black. Very good or better, with some rubbing and flaking to spine and front board, light wear to spine ends, lightly bumped top edge of front board, and bookplate to front free endpaper "Charlotte Richmond, [VA?]", with a note penned by the owner on the provenance of Slocum's inscription: "This book was given to me by the old captain when I took cookies out to him, while anchored nearby". Overall, a great, uniquely inscribed copy. Sailing Alone Around the World (1900) is Captain Joshua Slocum's firsthand account of his incredible solo circumnavigation of the earth, which took three years (1895-1898) and covered more than 46,000 miles. During the voyage Slocum encountered a number of life-threatening dangers, including gales, gear failure, and pirates. Slocum spent a year renovating his sloop, The Spray, before setting sail on the trip. He sailed without the use of a chronometer, relying instead on dead reckoning, a traditional navigation method. He also never learned to swim, believing it to be a useless skill. Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea, described the book as "Walden without training wheels." In the Preface of this edition, Slocum explains how he collaborated with Dr. Edward R. Shaw to abridge Sailing Alone Around the World so that it could be used in schools and serve as "a story of adventure and a lesson in geography all in one." . Inscribed by Author. First Edition Thus. Hard Cover. Very Good.