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MOORE, John Hamilton (1738–1807). The New Practical Navigator; being an Epitome of Navigation... Revised and Corrected by a Skilful Mathematician and Navigator [Nathaniel Bowditch]. Newburyport: Edmund M. Blunt, 1799. 8vo (211 x 130mm). 8 engraved plates. (Lacking 4 leaves in Table I [A3-A6], upper corner of Contents leaf B1 torn away affecting a few words on verso, some minor browning or spotting, some marginal soiling). Contemporary sheep (spine cracked with some loss of leather, worn); quarter morocco folding case. Provenance: George Gray, Baltimore (early ownership signature on title, marginalia and presumably his 2-page manuscript notes on rear endpapers recording various sea voyages); Saul Moskowitz (bookplate). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION of the most popular navigational text of the late 18th century, first published in 1772. In America, Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838) was the editor of two editions of Moore's Practical Navigator, published by Edward Blunt of Newburyport in 1799 and 1800, respectively. By 1802, when Blunt was ready to publish a third edition, Nathaniel Bowditch and others had corrected so many errors in Moore's work that Blunt decided to publish it as the first edition of a new work entitled, The New American Practical Navigator. Campbell 1; ESTC W31364; Evans 35834; Shipton & Mooney 35834.