Biographia Nautica: or, Memoirs of Those Illustrious Seamen, to whose Intrepidity and Conduct the English are Indebted

5 volumes: 520 pages with frontispiece, tables and six plates; 492 pages with tables, 479 pages, 587 pages, 504 pages with nine plates. Octavo (8" x 5") bound in leather with raised spine bands and black labels with gilt lettering to spine. Complied by John Kent, principally from Campbell's Lives of the Admirals (Hill page 358) First Dublin edition.

A London man of letters, Campbell was quite successful with his numerous works of an historical and biographical nature. He collect a large and valuable library. He first published his Lives of the Admirals in four volumes in the years 1742 to 1744. There were several later editions. From 1744 to 1748 he compiled and published what became known as Campbell's enlarged edition of John Harris's Complete collection of voyages and travels, originally published in 1702-1705. Campbell also made numerous important contributions to the Biographia Britannica under the signatures E and X, including his own noble Scottish ancestors, the Campbells. A memoir of him was inserted by Andrew Kippis in this same work. Campbell was an expert on the histories of Spain, Portugal, France and the British and the Dutch. In 1765he was appointed the royal agent for the province of Georgia and held that office until his death. There are many interesting references to him in James Boswell's Life of Johnson. John Kent published only tow editions of his compilation; this one and one published in London in 1776-1777.

Condition:

New spines with original leather boards. Volume one closed page edge tears with occasional page edges chipped only affecting margins. volume two damp stain to title gutter, some occasional foxing. Some pages stained else a good to very good set