Sign In

Earliest American Book on Eastern Trade Routes

With Extra Leaf of "Directions for Sailing from America"

Owned by a Prominent Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Entrepreneur

The rare American edition of Huddart's Oriental Navigator - a comprehensive pilot book compiled by one of Britain's greatest hydrographers outlining extensive eastern trade routes.  While Huddart's work was first published in London in 1794, the present American edition, issued in Philadelphia in 1801, is significant as the earliest American book on eastern trade routes. James Humphreys, the American printer, clearly intended this work for American merchants and ship owners who pioneered what is now known as the Old China trade.

This appears to be the first American publication on the Eastern trade routes - Ferguson.

The Oriental Navigator contains information gleaned from East India Company documents: journals of officers with vast experience in eastern trade routes.  Huddart was a sea captain himself, with much experience with the routes between India and China. He was associated with the British East India Company. The book also contains important sailing directions to and from Arabia to areas in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, such as Jeddah, Muscat and Barhrain.

A very detailed set of instructions for sailing from Great Britain to China via the Cape of Good Hope, with additional piloting instructions for voyages off the main route - Bell.

Extra Leaf for the "American Trade"

The present copy has an extra unnumbered leaf inserted after page 32, entirely overlooked by bibliographers, which contains interesting particulars directly pertaining to the fledgling American China trade. The extra sheet contains "Directions for vessels sailing from the coast of America" from "a gentleman of Philadelphia."  The remainder of the leaf contains an extract from a letter dated Jan. 24, 1801, by Samuel Snow, the American consul at Canton.  Snow, a Rhode Islander, built the American factory in China in 1798 and was actively encouraging American trade with China. The text of the letter advises American traders to avoid arriving in China without some sort of a cargo, as Chinese rules required special permission from "the Mandarin at Macao" for empty ships to proceed, which caused costly delays, with the vessels moored at Macao for a week or more, often in inclement weather. Such efforts by Snow and American traders were highly successful: by 1803 American ships outnumbered British and all other nations trading with China.

China Trade

What is known today as the Old China Trade began soon after American independence and spanned to the early 19th century. This marked the beginning of significant commercial exchanges between the United States and China. American ship owners and entrepreneurs played pivotal roles in pioneering this trade, driven by a quest for lucrative goods such as tea, silk, and porcelain. These early American traders established robust trading networks and opened new markets in the East, laying the foundation for enduring U.S.-Asia relations, challenging the dominance of the old British East India Company. Their ventures not only brought immense wealth but also fostered cultural exchanges and diplomatic ties between the two nations, significantly influencing the economic landscape of the era.

Rarity

This Philadelphia 1801 edition is very rare. Only a single example in the last 30 years noted as sold in RBH.

Provenance:

Walter Restored Jones, with his ownership signature on the title page.

In 1836 Walter R. Jones, together with his brother, John Hewlett Jones, founded the Cold Spring Whaling Company. This firm financed 44 voyages on 9 ships. John H. coordinated the voyages and hired whalers from his General Store in Cold Spring (Long Island, N.Y.) while Walter R. recruited investors and located ships through contacts made as the president of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company.