Five Volume Set of Nathaniel Bowditch's Useful Tables from the American Practical Navigator: 1931-1958

8vo. Five editions of the Bowditch nautical tables, from the years 1931, 1934, 1938, 1940, and 1958. Widely regarded as the most influential work in the history of navigation. Bowditch published his first revision of the of the navigator by J.H. Moore in 1799. Discovering more than 8000 errors, in the work of Moore, Bowditch decided to publish his own work, "The New American Practical Navigator", in 1802 and it quickly became the preeminent and most used work on celestial and maritime navigation. Bowditch's work has been updated and published every year since and is still published today. All volumes bound in navy blue cloth. Square tight bindings. Generally clean interiors, save for a few stamps and notations to endpapers of each. Mild to moderate rubbing and edge wear. The 1958 volume has the letters 'HCDOC' in white at top of front board.