The American Coast Pilot; Containing the Courses and Distances Between the Principal Harbours, Capes & Headlands, From Passamaquoddy Through the Gulph of Florida; With Directions for Sailing Into the Same.

8vo. A Rare Early Printing of THE seminal early American coastal navigation guide. This is the 5th Edition, and just the second published with maps. All of the Newburyport editions are quite scarce, and particularly so in original bindings, as many were lost in the Great Newburyport Fire of 1811. This is the second issue of the 5th Edition, with the misspelling on page 408 corrected. Thirteen black and white engraved plates. This is the first issue for directions for the Mississippi River and maps of Cape Poge and Long Island Sound, and the first issue with William Hooker signed maps. Original leather, with gilt ruling to spine and burgundy title label. xiv, 15-408pp, [1]. Square tight binding. Clean interior, save for some pencil notations to rear pastedown. Sporadic foxing throughout. Leather rubbed and worn with mild edge wear. Shallow crease to spine. Maps of Long Island Sound and Chesapeake Bay with vertical tears top to bottom, and the map of Newport with a short closed tear along upper edge. Title page loose along most of gutter, but still attached. Overall a handsome and quite rare early Newburyport edition of Blunt's defining work.…